By: Kelly Donovan ENGL Dept. Social Media Intern (blog 3)
Throughout my undergraduate experience, I have immersed myself in courses which have allowed me to grow as a learner and an individual. When I entered my freshmen year, I was initially intimidated by the large course load that I would be taking on as a student athlete. A combination of my busy schedule and inability to decide a career path for myself made me lack confidence at the start. However, I was able to overcome this looming stress by keeping a positive mindset and growing connections with other students and faculty. As a second semester senior, it is crazy to reflect on my growth from freshmen year to now. I have discovered a passion for law and will be entering law school this upcoming fall. In addition, my coaches honor me as a leader on our soccer team and express their appreciation for the impact I leave on my teammates. As the English Department’s social media intern, I was initially intimidated because I knew I would be taking on a role that is unlike anything I have ever done before. However, my supervisors for this position have allowed me to recognize that the teamwork and leadership skills I have developed throughout my undergraduate experience are applicable in a vocational setting like this.
As the social media intern for the English Depart as well as the World Literature and Medieval Renaissance minors, I have four different supervisors. When I first scheduled a zoom conference with these professors, I felt slightly nervous because I viewed myself as unqualified in comparison to these professionals and their years of experience. Fortunately, they welcomed me with open arms and have since given me the confidence to take on various different projects. The communication skills that I have developed throughout the process of being accepted into law school as well as my innate leadership qualities as a student athlete have allowed me to feel comfortable collaborating with these professionals, even though they may have more experience than myself. At this point in my internship, I will be launching a social media campaign and have sent out an email to every professor in the English Department as well as all of the English students to alert them. For this social media campaign, I communicated with one of my advisors to ultimately come up with the idea to post trivia questions crafted by students from all SP21 English courses. When I think about myself as a freshman, I would not have felt confident enough to take on a project like this which will be visible to the public at large. However, I now feel nothing but excitement when I think about myself leading this campaign. I am proud of my own self growth and appreciate my advisors for allowing me to reflect on the ways my leadership skills are applicable to this internship.
Building Bridges 