I want to describe my first day at C. Pharr, but after a
year and a half, I really only remember smiles, quick introductions and
immediately getting to work. My internship began on August 27, 2015, and over
the course of four semesters, I am so fortunate to say I have seen many aspects
of public relations that helped me learn far more than I would in a classroom. I
was able to work hands on with different projects for real clients and further
my career along the way.
From the beginning of my internship, my supervisors handed
over many writing assignments. I'll be the first to say writing is far from a
strong skill of mine, but I've learned being honest with your skill set can
only help you improve. I put forth strong effort in many of my writing
assignments and got out of my comfort zone to work on my weakness. Although I
am still far from perfect, I can confidently say practice has helped me improve
significantly and led to success both in school and at my internship.
At the end of my first semester with C. Pharr, I was given
an assignment to pitch a story about a local teacher at Trinity Christian
Academy (TCA), one of the clients I worked with often. I researched who I
wanted to pitch the story to and ended up coming across Jenny Anchondo with Fox
4 news. Even though she didn't pick up the story, she had a connection to the
teacher through both of them being involved in the KIPP literacy program. She
sent the pitch on to her colleagues, and after our winter break in the office,
I came back to the exciting news that Clarice Tinsley wanted to cover the
heartwarming story on the "Hometown Heroes” segment. You can see the
coverage and read more about my experience here.
In the summer of 2016, I was asked to participate in planning
an event for a non-profit client, Primary Care Clinics of North Texas.
Event planning is a little bit more complicated than they make it seem in the
movies, and the work involved more than what was taught in the classroom. I
learned event planning requires a lot of detailed planning and I was able to
plan ahead by creating a checklist of everything we would need before, during
and after the event. It was a great experience and I’m confident I’ll be able
to plan my next event with more ease.
As my last semester is coming to an end, I'm proud of all
the work I’ve accomplished thanks to my dedicated supervisors I've had over the
past four semesters at C. Pharr. I was able to gain a broad range of experience
and gain a greater understanding of the diverse industries our clients are in –
everything from education to non-profits, commercial real estate and even
corporations. Some people decide to have multiple internships, but I think I
was fortunate enough to stumble upon this agency to offer the experience
necessary to begin a successful career in public
relations.
This post was
contributed by Elizabeth LaMonte, C. Pharr Intern.
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