Hometown: Tonganoxie, Kansas
Major(s) / Minor(s): Communication Studies / Journalism
Internship title and organization:
Social Media and PR intern for the Kansas City T-Bones
What were your responsibilities during the internship?
I was responsible for running the team Snapchat account, and I helped out with the other social media accounts. I was also responsible for helping out with promotions and really just assisting my boss in any way she needed.
What was your favorite part(s) of the internship?
How had the classes you’d taken at KU prepared you for the internship?
Intro to Sport Management actually prepared me very well for this internship. I knew how to reach out to people about the team and how to be professional and make good connections. Journalism 300 with Prof. Holstead really prepared for it as well. I did a little work on Adobe InDesign and Illustrator for the team, and everything I know about those programs I learned from my J300 class!
What did you gain from the experience that will be valuable to you in the future?
The connections that I made are going to be very helpful for me. The T Bones is an organization that is focused on being fun and entertaining for everyone, whether that is families, big groups, or any group of people.
Why did you choose your majors/minors?
I definitely had a eureka moment, it didn’t come until April of my junior year though. When I first started at KU in the fall of 2015, I was a pre-journalism student wanting to go into broadcast journalism. I enjoyed certain aspects of that major but in the end it just wasn’t for me. It took me longer than most students to finally decide on what I wanted to do. After journalism I changed my major to Secondary Education for a year, and then Sport Management for the first semester and most of the second semester of my junior year. I really wanted to go into sports marketing and work for a professional football or baseball team. I had an advising appointment to figure out my schedule for the fall of 2018, and my advisor talked to me about changing my major one more time to Communication Studies and minoring in Journalism. It wasn’t until then that I realized that I could do all of the same stuff and even more with marketing and advertising if I was a Comm Studies major. Plus, I would graduate a lot sooner so that was a nice added bonus!
What do you plan to do after graduation?
I would love to go into creative marketing and advertising when I am done here at KU. My dream job is to work for either the Chiefs or Royals here in Kansas City!
What motivates you?
Being better than I was yesterday motivates me. What motivates me when it comes to a marketing and advertising sense though, is when you can connect with someone and make them remember why they love a sports team or an organization. When you can really attract someone to your product.
Be like Ben, and seek out an internship that will prepare you for that dream job! For more information, visit the Department of Communication Studies and the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. And for more about the Kansas City T-Bones, click here.