Local students score glamorous internships, work as volunteers

Lindsay Satzger, senior visual communication design major, interned with Loren Long, the illustrator of Madonna’s children’s book, Mr. Peabody’s Apples, this summer in Cincinnati.

Credit: Steve Schirra

Like so many college students, Amy Mathews, senior communications major, waited tables this summer to make ends meet.

But instead of tuition, Mathews put her earnings as a server toward her expenses as an intern with Fuse, an all-music television network.

Although the Fuse internship was unpaid, the experiences Mathews took away were far more valuable than money.

“The highlight of my summer was meeting Tommy Lee and the Foo Fighters while interning with Fuse,” she said.

As one of 10 chosen out of about 2,000 applicants for a Fuse internship, Mathews spent her summer in New York City, where she did public relations and programming work for the music network.

Part of her responsibilities included working on media kits, writing press releases, attending screenings and openings and helping to book artists. All this left little time for her part-time job.

“Having to have a second job … really hurt me because I couldn’t put as much time into my internship as I wanted,” she said, then added with a laugh, “but the people at Fuse understood I needed to eat.”

The internship made Mathews realize how much different the real world is.

“There’s nothing like real-world experience,” she said. “You can’t learn this stuff in the classroom.”

Double duty

Lindsay Satzger, senior visual communications design major, spent her summer balancing two internships in Cincinnati.

“It was intimidating getting an internship, and then getting two became a real confidence booster,” she said. “I’m definitely more confident now.”

Satzger interned with Jack Rouse Associates, an environmental design firm, and with Loren Long, a children’s book illustrator who recently illustrated Madonna’s Mr. Peabody’s Apples.

Even though she spent more time working at Jack Rouse Associates, it was Satzger’s internship with Long that helped affirm her desire to concentrate on illustration. She called the experience “really inspiring.”

Missionary girl

On the flip side to summer internships or working all summer, there is often a great need for volunteers at various organizations.

Nicole Steward, junior sociology major, spent five weeks of her summer doing janitorial work in Matamoras, Mexico, for Adventures In Missions, a nondenominational Christian organization.

“There is a lot of mission opportunity available for students,” Steward said, “and these organizations definitely need those behind-the-scenes people.”

Having helped with other missions in the past, Steward found this one to be very humbling.

“I was an American cleaning toilets and washing dishes for the Americans who were serving the community,” she said.

One of her most memorable experiences came when a seven-acre fire broke out near the mission center.

As the oldest of the 11 janitorial volunteers, Steward had to pull the staff together to help put the fire out.

“It was crazy, and it really got all of us to work together and become a team,” Steward said.

This being her first time with Adventures In Missions, Steward said she learned a lot about herself during her stay in Mexico.

“I can definitely do stuff I didn’t think I could, and it was very rewarding.”

Contact features correspondent Jessica Sprowl at [email protected].