internship reflection

Corny title, but that's just what this blog post is about to be...

We had to write a reflection paper for the ASME program, so I'm trying to channel some of what I wrote for it.

When I first found out I got the ASME internship, I definitely cried of happiness. I knew that if I wanted to be successful in the magazine industry, this would be the internship to make it happen. Two months in New York City, a paid internship at a national magazine, 28 friends and fellow ASME interns, tons and tons of connections... I could not have been more thrilled.

And when I got my Sports Illustrated assignment, my first thought was UH-OH!... I actually don't watch sports that often, and I definitely don't read the sports sections of the newspaper, let alone SI. So needless to say, I was a bit worried. How was that gonna work out? But, I can't say it wasn't one of my top choices. SI is the most popular sports magazine in the world, it's a respected publication, and it's a weekly... I certainly wasn't complaining. Once the internship started, I quickly realized it wasn't about how much sports I knew, but more about the skill set: fact checking, reporting, researching, interviewing, pitching ideas. I could be a successful intern without being an intense sports fan. It definitely would've helped, though... wouldn't have had to question what a yellow shirt in the Tour de France meant (means you're in first place), or what K and FB and SS indicated on depth charts. (kicker, fullback, strong safety!).../what a depth chart even is in the first place.

And just for fun, here's some random sports knowledge I acquired this summer:
Roger Federer has more major championships than Tiger Woods
See You At Peelers racehorse tied the world record for a mile on a 5/8ths mile track at Meadowlands
Women's world cup final recorded the most tweets ever
In an MLB poll, the majority of players think Las Vegas should be the next city to get a pro baseball team

My main responsibility at SI was fact checking. That means checking every single fact in a story, from the spelling of a name, to the date a certain championship was won, to if a certain athlete was married or engaged to someone at the time of a given date... it does matter. I recently had to call the sports information director at a certain university, to ask if a football player had more than one sister. A story's wording depended on it. I've fact checked plenty before, but never ever have I fact checked like this. Statistics like you wouldn't believe, or I guess, maybe you would. Verifying a certain basketball player really did have the record for rebounds in one game, by using several online database resources to check all the RPG since the beginning of NBA play. Sometimes fact checking meant going through SI's library, which is full of every media guide for professional teams, collegiate teams... dating back years and years. Every SI since 1954. Olympic guides, nonfiction novels about athletes, newspaper clippings for athletes. Everything.

But aside from that, I was lucky enough to help a writer with a research project, and write a section of the women's world cup preview for the June 27 issue. I am shocked I received a byline that quickly, but could not be more excited. That's the real deal. I have a byline in Sports Illustrated.... amazing.

You would think that working at SI would equate to me getting free sporting tickets or meeting athletes. Neither of those things happened... not that I would've wanted tickets to a Yankees game anyway. (Watching the Yanks play the Red Sox right now actually!).

Even though SI wasn't my "dream magazine" internship, it gave me more opportunities than I probably ever would've receive at another internship. I was given a lot of responsibility to do actual work, and lucked out of the coffee and errands runs a lot of interns have to go on. Not that I won't have to do those things in the future! I just got lucky. I was treated like a reporter, an actual staff member, rather than an intern... and it made my experience all the more enjoyable. But it also was a tease! I was "working" at a national publication, in a midtown skyscraper... taking the subway to and from work each day.. alongside other professionals... for two months. So awesome.

Aside from SI, the ASME internship itself was incredible. Orientation brought us a lot of speakers, and each week we had luncheons at various publications. Throughout the summer I've met editors at Glamour, People, Real Simple, InStyle, The New Yorker, HerCampus, Scientific American, the senior talent director at Hearst, dean at CUNY journalism school. My assigned ASME mentor was the wonderful Katie, a style news editor at People.com. Aside from that I've connected with many people at SI, other people my age pursuing careers in NYC... and of course, I can't forget the wonderful, incredible, talented group of ASME interns I've been lucky enough to be with this summer. It's so nice to be surrounded by a group of students with similar journalism backgrounds and goals as myself. I've finally been able to talk freely about magazines with people! And even though we're all primarily interested in a career in magazines, we still have different goals within that. Some of us want to freelance, others want to be EICs... some want to start their own magazine. We're not all competing for the same EA position at a certain magazine in particular, although I'm sure a lot of us would be happy to have it! Everyone in the ASME program is so talented, and I know everyone is going really far with whatever they do. It's been an honor living with, hanging out with and being in ASME with them. I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of them in the future :)

This summer I've been given so many networking opportunities, met so many great people and received so much wonderful advice and words of wisdom from them all. I actually can't even fathom how many powerful, prominent and successful people I've met.

At our ASME graduation lunch, the editor of SELF, summed it up when she said how this summer hasn't been about like "oh I got to go to this event, oh my gosh so cool you work at Sports Illustrated, wow you interviewed this celebrity, yada yada." Yeah, we think it's cool, too, but for us interns, the best part of our summer has been meeting so many great people, and most of all, getting to do what we love, which is work with magazines and journalism. It's awesome I got a byline, but for me... what's even more awesome is that I met all those aforementioned editors, networked, and left this summer feeling like I was successful. The best feeling has been the relief I feel about my future career with magazines. I have a chance, there is possibility, a big possibility actually, of me getting a job with magazines. It's not a question of if for me, it's a question of when. And I can't express how great that feeling is. I think for all of us interns, this summer gave us a boost of confidence... and with journalism students about to be seniors and graduate, confidence is a great thing.

I've never had a job where I was excited to go into work every day. But this summer, I can't remember a day when I dreaded going to work. Except maybe the day after my 21st birthday, but that's a different story. The SELF editor, Lucy, also mentioned that not many Americans love their jobs... most Americans probably can't say that actually... so it's pretty cool I feel that way about magazines.

I'll be moving to New York next summer to pursue my career in magazines. And while I'm not sure what magazine I'll end up at, it's nice to know what I want to do with the rest of my life. And having the resources and confidence to do it, is even better.

.........

So, now I have 10 days at home, which I hope to fill with a trip to Boston, trip to my lake house, some beach time and of course catching up with friends. And then, it's finally back to Milwaukee for this girl. I need me some Marquette.

Thanks for following me on my NYC summer adventure everyone! xx

Oops. Meant to blog earlier in the week! Let's see, what have I been up to...

Monday
- work/nothing special

Tuesday
My day off! I ran some errands, got some exercise in (greatly needed) then went to visit with my godfather and his family. They were hosting a shiva for his mother who passed away, but it wasn't a sad thing. More of a socializing, eating food, being with friends type thing. It was good to see some of these people I haven't seen in so long! My godfather's sisters know everyone in this city, so during the time I was there, I met a former NFL player (Patriots!) and the current CEO of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, who is also the former CEO of EMI Records and has produced some of Frank Sinatra's records. Awesome. I briefly talked with him but I was pretty intimated. He's not a celebrity, but he's a pretty big deal, so it was fair to say I was kind of star struck.

photo of me and my godfather. Photo below it is of me and my godfather's son, Brandon

Afterward, I went to this intern networking event with my friend Caroline and her friend Katherine. It was a little too crowded, so after a half hour we left and went to McDonald's for ice cream sundaes instead. When you've been networking all summer, sometimes you just don't wanna do it anymore. And would prefer to have ice cream.

Wednesday--
Went to Shake Shack (again. addicted) with a Marquette grad, Ashley, who is working at Redbook in the city. Then at night I met fellow ASME intern, Jess, to see Zach Braff's new play "All New People" at the Second Stage Theatre. A few familiar faces acted in the play, a guy from the Hangover, girl from 27 Dresses, another girl from True Blood. Here's the link..
http://www.2st.com/component/option,com_plays/task,viewPlay/id,147
It was a great, great performance! Hilarious, moving at times, great story line and theme. Thank you Mary Carroll (London professor) for getting me into performing arts. I really did leave Europe so much more cultured.

Thursday--
work work work. Met Jackie for dinner at Heartland Brewery. I'm so glad I was able to see her a few times this summer, and that girl better get her butt out to Milwaukee this fall. So our little London abroad group can reunite. After dinner I met the interns and some SI reporters at a bar in midtown for happy hour. It was so much fun! After we were there for awhile, we went to a karaoke bar. 10 of us squeezed into a little room and sang our hearts out. Total Eclipse of the Heart, Jackson 5 songs, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Complicated by Avril Lavigne. It was pretty awesome. One of my favorite nights of the summer.

And now here I am: LAST DAY AT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED! ahhhhhh :( there isn't much to do, but luckily I have an ASME graduation lunch soon. At Remi, a really fancy schmancy restaurant in midtown. It's so sad today is the last day. Some of the interns are leaving tonight. Can't believe it's over. Wahhh. best summer ever.

Okay, well, I'm actually headed to the lunch now, soooo as promised, I'll post a reflective blog entry on Sunday, after I've moved back home. yay home!