Intern Diaries

[Claudio Davey]

GradyCollege: What was your favorite part about your summer internship?

CC: Every day I wake up and go to work in the United States Senate, and that never gets old. Getting to be in the middle of what is happening in this country politically and see all the historic places in my office is incredible, and reminds me why I originally decided I wanted to work in politics.

Grady College: What part of your Grady education did you find most valuable during your internship?

CC: The knowledge of AP style Grady as given me was very helpful in my work his summer. Many communication related assignments I had needed to be in AP style. No matter my feelings on having to keep up with it, it was necessary to doing a good job.

Grady College: How did your internship help confirm your desired career path or make you re-evaluate what you want to do in the future?

CC: This internship has confirmed to me my love for communications and its intersection with politics. However, it has also caused me to consider a wider variety of careers, as well as the possibility of working in DC someday. Before I was convinced I wanted to do PR in Atlanta, but now I am open to more jobs such as agency work and advocacy work.

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Interning for JMG Public Relations has been a true honor. I entered the company with certain expectations and they were exceeded every single time. From the company culture to the work/life balance to the overall learning experience. Being that this internship was not my first, I still managed to learn a lot. No day was like the other at JMG PR, we took on the day with whatever was to be prioritized first which kept things interesting. Interning at JMG PR helped me strengthen all my skills as Jenna Guarneri , the CEO, continuously provided constructive criticism along the way. This aided in helping me improve and grow as the internship progressed. JMG Public Relations treats its employees and clients like family which is what sets the company apart from the rest.

Grady: What was your favorite part about your summer internship?

LC: Imagine spending your days in one of the largest and high-tech buildings in Atlanta, updating the masses on happenings on campus via Instagram stories. Utilizing Instagram to communicate and helping create content was THE BEST part of my summer.

Grady: What is the most valuable lesson or skill you learned during your summer internship?

LC: One of the most valuable lessons I learned during my internship experience is that persistence is necessary. Persistence, along with pushing myself out of my comfort zone, is vital to success at a company as vast as NCR. While social media might not be the business priority when compared to tech and innovation, I was able to make myself memorable in the eyes of the people that I have met and connected with.

Grady: How did your internship help confirm your desired career path or make you re-evaluate what you want to do in the future?

LC: My internship helped me confirm that Advertising was definitely the right major for me. I get to create, design, work with social platforms and communicate with people on a global scale. It made me realize that jobs are not cookie-cutter, and anything is possible if you make yourself available to the opportunities that come your way.

Grady: How will your summer internship affect the way you approach the rest of your time at UGA?

LC: I think it will change my intentionality as a student. The goal going into the school year is to be focused on graduation, securing a job and learning as much as I can while enjoying my last year as a dawg on campus. This internship has changed the way I think about experience versus education and how both are interchangeably useful in the real world.

When I came to The Buffalo History Museum for an internship with the Collections department in the Resource Center, one of my primary tasks consisted of cataloguing a collection of Fisher-Price toys from the 1960s through the 1990s.

Mr. Robjent helps Walter Mayer, our Director of Collections, with the upkeep and repair of an apostolic clock in the collection. When he heard we were doing a project on Fisher-Price artifacts, he brought a number of his own personal artifacts, vintage catalogs, and limited employee edition books to the Resource Center for me to use in my research. He was happy to shed light on the design process and share his knowledge of the specific artifacts in our collection.

On top of my admin tasks, like getting the mail and making coffee runs, I was given some online articles to write every few days, but that was it. I figured I had two options: I could either wait at my computer all day (or longer) for a single assignment, or I could be proactive and hunt for work.

While some people had nothing for me to do, others were super-thankful for an extra hand. The beauty team, for example, had no intern and desperately needed someone to help them organize. By the end of my first week, I had gone from staring at a blank computer screen to racking up extra hours to complete assignments.

When I finally had a handle on all of my new tasks, I scheduled a meeting with my intern supervisor to discuss all of the things I was hoping to learn during my time at the magazine. I thought it was a good way to show her that I was ready for more and wanted to learn new things.

As an intern in the Manuscript Reading Room, one of my favorite tasks was answering reference questions. In doing so, I found myself moseying through many historical diaries, which frequently evoke elementary school memories.

Diaries are often the best true representation of a person in history. They illustrate the mundane acts of day-to-day life, which speak to our shared humanity. But they also highlight the unusual and awesome moments a person may encounter in life. Diaries shed light on the diversity of a time period and provide stories beyond what may initially be learned in a classroom.

In the spirit of my introductory story, I will begin our diary journey on April 7, 1863. The author is not unfamiliar, but the heroic Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross and, among other distinctions, a nurse during the Civil War. The Manuscript Division holds many of her diaries, most just like the one I have chosen: pocket-sized. This one came with a matching, and darling, pocket-sized pencil; I am inspired to buy one for myself.

Cullen was an eloquent and prolific poet and novelist. One opens his diary and expects beautifully written and woven stories of life and its consequences. This is not the case. Cullen often wrote matter-of-factly about his day. On January 15, 1928, for example, he accompanies his fiance, Nina Yolande DuBois, to Baltimore for a tea where she will meet with her prospective bridesmaids. He explains this and not much more. For he says there are:

Maybe Cullen saved all of his creativity for poems and novels, or maybe he was just too busy. But I am grateful he graces us with a hint to the rhythms of his days in early 1928. It is interesting, nonetheless, and shows that he was so very human.

After a day of rest, Douglass visits Pompeii on January 4, 1887. There are two sentences that struck me in this particular entry. While these diaries are not ancient, what Douglass has written about Pompeii, I believe, best describes why I am so interested in history, why I enjoyed my time at the Library of Congress, and maybe even why I love reading the diaries themselves. While I have read history books and heard history lessons, nothing quite matches having the primary sources at your fingertips:

While the Library of Congress holds the microfilm of the Countee Cullen Papers, the physical collection can be found at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University: Countee Cullen papers, 1900-1947 Amistad Research Center.

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We've seen them on television and in movies--stories chronicling the lives of young adults like the Nanny Diaries, Basketball Diaries, The Carrie Diaries, Princess Diaries and even The Vampire Diaries. This year, in the spirit of giving our interns a platform to share their stories, thoughts and observations about their experience with the Airports Authority, we're introducing The Intern Diaries.

Every summer, the Airports Authority welcomes interns from across the country representing various colleges and universities. This is your chance to learn a little more about the experiences of some of our interns, and to take pride in our internship program and the quality of students who choose to spend their summer with us. Enjoy!

Morgan, better known by her pen name Morgan McKensey, is a junior fashion marketing major at SCAD. I wanted to get to know Morgan a bit better, so we chatted about our go-to outfit staples. As described by herself, Morgan is a creature of habit, and particularly loves tailored goods: corsets, flared leg pants, blazers and, of course, a good pant suit.

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