By Michaela Simcoe, AAEA Intern, South Dakota State University
My name is Michaela Simcoe and I live in Elk River, Minnesota. I am currently studying agricultural communications with minors in animal science and youth and community work at South Dakota State University. At college, I am very involved in Sigma Alpha professional agriculture sorority, Little International and Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow.
Through the AAEA Internship program, I had the opportunity to work as a public relations intern for broadhead. My responsibilities included writing and distributing news releases for livestock and crop clients, developing articles and e-blasts for sponsored content in industry publications, creating and posting social media content on client Facebook pages, and planning a public relations strategy for broadhead’s 2018 internship program. This internship helped me develop a deeper understanding of everything public relations entails, and allowed me to learn more about and collaborate with other departments within the agency.
Attending the 2017 Agricultural Media Summit was also an awesome experience. As a first-time attendee, I was very impressed by the number of people involved in agricultural media gathered at one conference. I loved networking with both students and industry professionals, and learned about other opportunities within agriculture and gained expert advice.
Overall, I am very grateful for my AAEA internship experience. The combination of working at a full-service agency with so many clients involved in agriculture and attending the Ag Media Summit confirmed how much I love the industry, and makes me excited for my future within it.