Texas internships for summer and fall

Internships no longer appeal only to students seeking to fulfill their requirement of completing a JMC-related internship for graduation purposes. Thanks to a sour economy and a tougher job market, many recent JMC graduates are also competing for internship positions to get more experience on their resumes. Other students are beefing up their resumes by completing two or more internships, even though the JMC department only requires one.

Here are several opportunities around the Lone Star state that may appeal to current students or recent graduates:

• HH Enterprises, owned by ACU alumnus Homer Hillis, seeks a student in Abilene interested in viral marketing, social media and who has a flair for fashion. Duties would include blogging, posting to Web sites, using Facebook and generally finding ways to create conversations online and build community. Hillis is also owner of the Friendze chain of retail stores. You may contact him at 325-829-0340 or by e-mail.
• The Texas Public Relations Association has announced its 2009 TPRA Silver Spur Internship program. This is an elite set of internships for public relations students that can lead to scholarships but at the least looks great on a PR student's internship. TPRA internships are available this summer and fall at the American Heart Association (offices throughout Texas), MM2 Public Relations in Dallas and at NuStar Energy L.P. in San Antonio. For more information, visit TPRA's Web site at http://www.tpra.com/student/.
• Total, the world's fourth-largest integrated oil and gas company, seeks public relations interns for this fall at its Port Arthur refinery in Texas. This is a paid internship and includes housing. Total will consider juniors, seniors or recent graduates with a minimum GPA of 2.8, a good knowledge of Associated Press style and excellent communication and presentation skills. Knowledge of QuarkXpress, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or Publisher would be a plus, as would experience in video editing or work with student media (radio, TV or newspaper). E-mail me for additional information about how to apply.
• Concussion Interactive, a Web site design firm in Fort Worth, uses interns in the fall, spring and summer semesters. Past interns have served in account service, media, interactive, creative and traffic/production departments. For more information, visit Concussion's Web site.
  

What is an internship portfolio?

*** See updated information at the post "Important New Rules for JMC Interns" dated 9/8/2010 ***

The final step in completing your JMC internship is submitting an internship portfolio to the JMC department. The portfolio must carefully follow the guidelines in the syllabus for the internship class (JMC 495) or the internship packet. The portfolio should be professionally bound using plastic or wire spiral binding, a clear plastic front cover and a solid plastic back cover.

Be sure your portfolio includes the following:

a. Title page – The title page should include your name, where you did your internship (company and city) and the date of your internship. Many students choose to use color and graphic design to make an attractive title page but this is not required and will not result in a higher grade.
b.Introduction – A one-page description of the assigned work, an explanation of duties, identity of profession¬al supervisor, and a description of pre-internship expectations.
c. Daily log – A typed, double-spaced log of daily experiences with explanation and analysis. Include questions, concerns or observations about assigned tasks.
d. Work product – Work can be presented in any print form if clippings, tearsheets or finished work are not available. Samples of bylined news stories from Web sites are acceptable. You may include radio, TV and video projects in CD or DVD formats, but please include a plastic pocket designed to hold the disk so that it won’t get separated from your portfolio; include your name on the CD or DVD. Samples of photography may also be included, but must be included within the portfolio document or securely attached. IMC students may include samples of research, internal planning documents, or samples of finished public relations, media relations or creative work.
e. Intern’s Post-Fieldwork Response form – Type your answers to the list of questions in this form, included with this syllabus and available online. Most students add this to the portfolio just prior to the executive summary.
f. Executive summary – A one- to two-page narrative summary of the learning experience. This should be the final document in your portfolio.

Deadlines

It's also important to know the deadlines for submitting internship portfolios. For those who have completed their internship prior to the start of a new semester and plan to take JMC 495 during that semester, the deadline for submission of the portfolio is the final internship class meeting for the semester, which is typically prior to mid-term. In other words, if you complete your internship during the summer and then take JMC 495 in the fall, your portfolio is due prior to the final class meeting, typically in early October.

For all other students, portfolios must be submitted within four weeks of the final day of fieldwork as an intern. Please note that (1) You will NOT receive credit for this course and cannot graduate from the university with a JMC major until the portfolio is submitted and approved and (2) Late portfolios will result in a lower final grade.

The portfolios, once submitted, are property of the university and are kept on file for accreditation purposes. If you want to keep a portfolio for your own use, please make a personal copy. You are also encouraged to keep electronic copies in your computer of your introduction, daily log, responses to the “post fieldwork response form” and your executive summary until you have received a grade for this class on your transcript, in the event that your portfolio is lost after being submitted.