Many LSC undergraduate students engage in a wide variety of internships each summer and this year was no exception. Students throughout the department honed their science communication skills in professional settings, interning across the country – from Wisconsin to California and in between. In this story we highlight a small selection of students who demonstrated their knowledge and excellence in diverse fields.
One of the fields a degree in LSC prepares students for is health communications. For instance, junior Jordan Gaal was a Statewide Communications Assistant with Wisconsin Area Health Education Centers this summer. Through his internship, Jordan traveled to Washington DC to speak about the importance of health education with our national legislators.
“Classes such as Communication Industry Research Methods with Neil Stenhouse taught me how to effectively communicate science research through reports and presentations. Science, Media and Society taught by Dietram Scheufele helped me understand the strong role media plays in science communication, which led me to recognize the connection between media and healthcare in Wisconsin,” noted Jordan. Check out Jordan’s full internship story in this feature by Scenic Rivers AHEC.
Junior Madeline Worsham traveled across country for her internship. She worked as a marketing and communications intern for the American Health Association’s National Center in Dallas, TX this summer. Through her role, Madeline created internal communications material related to AHA’s new resuscitation guidelines and helped manage their social media content and materials.
In addition to theory and strategy, LSC classes teach students hands-on skills such as video editing, web design, newswriting, radio production and more. In the field of agricultural communications, LSC senior Amanda Borkowski used the videography and communication skills she learned in the classroom as a video production intern at Kuhn North Americain Brodhead, WI this summer. In her role, Amanda edited and produced videos using cameras, drones, GoPros, stabilizers and more. She even traveled to Ontario, Canada for a shoot.
“I discovered my love for shooting and producing videos when I took Video Production with Patty Loew my sophomore year, and that class has really driven me to pursue a career that, at least, utilizes some video production skills. Video Production has really allowed me to excel at my internship at Kuhn by allowing me to be familiar with different kinds of equipment, angle techniques and editing software skills,” Borkowski said.
Across the country, LSC major Sydney Endres worked in the Member Relations Department at Land O’Lakes in Tulare, California. Sydney worked on the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management program where she helped write articles, design flyers, and conduct surveys among other responsibilities.
Another field many LSC students pursue is environmental communications. For example, Madeline Fischer worked as a communications intern at the Office of Sustainability on campus this summer. Fischer created a comprehensive promotion plan for the Moving Days event in an effort to keep usable items off the curb during lease turn-over. Furthermore, Fischer used her communication skills to serve as a spokesperson for the Office of Sustainability and was interviewed by NBC15.
“My LSC classes have not only taught me how to communicate complex ideas simply, but more importantly have taught me how to understand a target audience so that these ideas can be communicated efficiently,” noted Fischer. “This knowledge has helped me to create a promotions plan for the Moving Days event, in which I targeted college students with paid Facebook advertisements.”