By Laurie Bedord, Future Ag Communicators Chair
For some students, a summer internship has become a staple of the college experience. But is it really as important as it seems?
The answer is yes!
An internship is an integral part to the process of planning a career. This opportunity provides valuable insights that can only be gained through first-hand experience. It also provides a foundation for your later career to be built upon.
As a potential employer, it’s always good to see that an applicant has prior experience – even if it’s in a different area. Yet, we often hear college students say that to gain that experience, they have to have had a job. Not only does an internship qualify as job experience, it looks good on a resume!
Providing exceptional opportunities for future agricultural communicators to test drive a career is also at the heart of the AAEA Ag Communicators Network editorial and marketing communications internships.
Each intern earns a $4,500 stipend for approximately 10 weeks and another $1,000 toward the cost of attending the Agricultural Media Summit. As a member-driven, non-profit organization, the Professional Improvement Foundation (PIF) provides funding, direction and input for these openings.
Continuing this educational and experiential legacy for years to come is a top priority for PIF. What that means is ensuring that our members see the value students gain from this program as well as the importance of steadily growing this initiative.
The contributions that support PIF initiatives like internships come from a variety of sources including an Ag Media Summit grant, donations through member renewals, past president and trustee donations, and sponsorships.
For example, G&G Communications and Sage Communications have helped support the marketing communications internship for a number of years. While funding for the editorial internship has come from PIF’s annual operating budget, there is an opportunity for the right company or group to sponsor this internship as well.
Although these sources have proven fruitful in the past, we know we must also explore new revenue streams. As we look to 2018, PIF is working to expand its reach beyond the traditional resources so we can continue to offer and expand upon the invaluable opportunities our programs for future agricultural communicators present.