Interns at the museum

As the UGA semester winds down, we're having to say goodbye to a lot of our interns, who are moving on to bigger and better things. As the Student of the Year ceremony made clear, we owe them a lot, including the following brief article written for the blog about what the experience has been like.

My name is Caitlin Neglia, and I am currently a junior at the University of Georgia majoring in Public Relations and Spanish. After taking several PR classes at the university, if there was one thing that I have learned it would be the one piece of advice that every professor loved to give, “The most important thing you can do for yourself as a PR student entering the work force is to know that classes can’t teach you everything. You need to GET EXPERIENCE!”

As I approached the spring semester of my junior year I decided to take their advice. Luckily, since I was only taking 12 hours, I was able to pursue an internship during the school year. When I saw a listing sent through the Grady College listerv from the Georgia Museum of Art asking for summer interns, I decided to go for it and send in my resume! Four months later, here I am!

I started my internship with the communications department in the beginning of January. As a first-time intern, saying that I was nervous would have been an understatement. However, I was anxious and excited to take this on and knew that I would be getting a lot out of it. As soon as I walked in, I was welcomed with a hug from Jenny, the media relations coordinator, and introduced to several friendly co-workers. At this moment I knew that I would fit in well and have a lot of fun in the meantime.

I am so glad that I have been given the opportunity to work here. The relaxed environment and helpful people have made me feel very comfortable and excited to be a part of the museum. Jenny has been wonderful to work with and has taught me so much about public relations along the way. I have had the opportunity to work on various projects including media lists, media training activities, press releases and other assignments. The wide variety of tasks that I have been assigned to do has helped me become a more flexible person who can easily switch gears to accomplish something new. I now know exactly HOW busy those working in the PR industry are and how unpredictable their schedules can be. Through this internship, I have also learned how to better manage my time in order to balance my hours at the museum with my class schedule and other curricular activities. Honestly, if it was not for the great people and fun atmosphere, I would not have been so willing to come in every day!

Another thing that made my experience so great were the other interns that I got to work closely with. The other two PR interns, Lauren and Orian, along with the publications intern, Stephanie, were so much fun to be around and made the days at the museum seem to go by quickly. I truly believe that it is not only important to enjoy what you do in general, but also who you spend your time with while doing it. I can tell that everyone at the museum genuinely enjoys being around each other, making it an ideal place to work and intern.

The things that I have learned during my internship at the Georgia Museum of Art are things that I will take with me to whatever I do in the future. From the times spent stuffing envelopes to the memories of doing “the train” during the On the Move kickoff party, I have enjoyed all of my experiences as an intern at the museum. I will definitely miss being here every weekday, and all of the people that I have met during this internship. To all the future PR interns: have fun! Enjoy the experience and make the most of it! Thanks for a great semester!