My First Day As An Intern

Today, I began my internship for TribLIVE Sports Radio. To be more specific, what I will be doing consists of me attending Pittsburgh sporting events, hosting a promotions & prizes table, taking photos and writing weekly blogs about those events. 

My responsibility today was to attend a clinic for the Riverhounds Development Academy soccer teams that was featuring a U.S. Soccer Women's National Team defender, Meghan Klingenberg. Meghan is a Pittsburgh native, a Pine-Richland graduate and player for the senior U.S. WNT! Meghan was home in Pittsburgh to participate in this clinic for the U.S. WNT's campaign #SheBelieves, which is an initiative to send a message to young girls that they can accomplish their goals and dreams. 

Anyway, I headed down to Highmark Stadium, the Riverhounds home turf to begin the first task for my internship! At first, I'll admit I was extremely lost and had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I was the only representative from Trib Total Media at this event, therefore I was on my own with no directions. I took many pictures of Meghan playing with the girls U-17, U-16 and U-15 teams and wandered around aimlessly on the field. I told myself that if I looked confident in what I was doing, no one would question me. And that's exactly what happened. 

Eventually, I began talking to a broadcasting intern for the Riverhounds, a sophomore soccer player for Penn State. Then, I was approached by the Riverhounds media manager and thankfully, he set me up with an interview with Meghan and gave me his contact information to ensure that I would have a media pass for the remainder of theRiverhounds  season! Then, I quickly interviewed Meghan, who is a very kind woman with a hysterical sense of humor. 

All in all, today was more fantastic than I expected. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out because I was nervous initially. But today I learned that I have to be a go-getter, no more being bashful and anxious all the time because that won't get me interviews with professional soccer players! I'm beyond excited to see what other adventures this internship will offer me and I will certainly keep my blog update with those endeavors. 

With love,

Jess.

Junior Year - A Synopsis

My third year at Westminster College has come to an end.

And now that the class of 2015 has graduated, I am a senior in college...

It sounds weird to even say the "s" word. I cannot really come to terms with that fact so I will refrain from mentioning that throughout this entire post! But although my junior year is over, I would like to take some time and share my memories and thoughts about this past year with you, my friends and family.


First of all, it feels like just last week I was moving all of my stuff (three cars full) into the prehistoric Hillside dorm that would house my two best friends and I for the year. Kelsey, Megan and I were super excited to all be rooming together officially, although Kelsey has practically slept on mine and Megan's floor for the past two years! Living in such an old dorm seemed like it was going to be a complete drag because there was no air conditioning, a small and atrocious communal bathroom and worst of all, the dorm sat on the highest hill in all of New Wilmington and that is not a joke. Hillside was all of those things but I'm grateful to have lived in such a place because I was lucky enough to live across the hall from a couple of wonderful individuals who I'm happy to call my best friends. Shoutout to Carly and Sarah!


I went into my first semester of junior year thinking that it was going to be almost impossible. I was taking courses in Public Relations Ethics, Writing, Marketing and Biology. Biology was my greatest fear because I just really do not understand science. In the end, biology turned out to be my best class, thanks to a tremendous amount of extra credit, endless "studying" and the two most awesome lab partners of all time, Judy and Kelsey! But once again, the only thing I have take from my biology course was that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. That I can never forget. My public relations writing course was a pretty good time, I'm very glad my great friend Erin is also a PR major, I don't know that I could do it without her! All of my other courses did give me a bit of trouble but I did learn valuable information throughout the semester that I can take with me as I pursue my Bachelor's degree in public relations.


First semester was a very fun time! Throughout the four months, I had watched my best friends play volleyball many times, attended the Gateway Clipper ride with my Alpha Gamma Delta sisters, dressed up as Marilyn Monroe for Halloween, celebrated Kelsey, Megan and Kelsey's birthdays, attended most of the football games, a toga party, a prom mixer and just had an overall unforgettable time with  friends and sisters!


After formal recruitment had ended during the first week back to school for the second semester, my sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, had picked up an adorable group of girls to join our organization. Shortly after, the time came and Megan had to leave me and the Westminster bubble to study abroad in Europe for 6 long months. Ever since Meg was my roomie freshman year, we barely went two weeks without seeing each other, so that 6 months seemed incredibly too long. Despite the absence of my dear friend Megan, I have to say that spring semester was marvelous! Even though I was also in denial that my lovely sorority mom, was so close to graduating (I'll miss you Lyd!). I'll be the first to admit that my classes were easy, I took two art classes, a jazz course and one media relations class. Therefore, I had plenty of time to get out of my room and make some new friends... and I did just that! I met some inspirational and hysterical people on my trip for Habitat for Humanity, including Hannah! I got to know a few of my sisters on a deeper and more personal level (Hey Chrissy and Rachel). My sorority stayed strong through personal discrimination and won Greek Week. I came to find myself enjoying going to chapel once or twice a week as well. I think most importantly, I learned a lot about myself. Throughout my semester, I read quite an eye-opening book that really altered my way of thinking and my perspective of life. I've learned to accept myself, to love myself, to live my life optimistically and even a little about the importance of faith. I'd like to say thanks to all of the people who have been in my life for the past three years, every one of you have helped me to grow and to become a better version of myself. Thanks to the strangers who have held the door for me, thanks to those who have left sweet and unexpected letters in my mailbox, thanks to those who give hugs for no reason, thanks to those who lend a kind word and thanks to all of you beautiful people for being you.




Still can't believe I'm a.........senior.


With love,
Jess.

Spring Break With A Purpose

Spring break. 

When "spring break" is mentioned, what do you imagine? 

Do you imagine thousands of college students in their bathing suits and swimming trunks partying and doing keg stands on the beach? I used to. For me, I always pictured spring break as spending endless hours on the beach and sipping margaritas by the pool. Just wild, crazy and outrageous fun. Until my first spring break as a college student...and the second. It surely wasn't keg stands on the beach or soaking up the sun all day. I stayed home, boring old Pittsburgh, mountains of snow, freezing temperatures and long work days. 

 Initially, I had decided that this year, my junior year, was finally going to be the year that my friends and I go to a beach for spring break. Not just any beach but Panama City, Fla., spring break capitol of America. Well that plan fell through, do you know how expensive all of that is?! 

Throughout the school year, Westminster students receive close to a million e-mails. Within that one million, I began to notice the plethora of e-mails about "Spring Break With A Purpose". I was intrigued. The spring break with a purpose trip was a mission trip for about 20 students to join and do work with Habitat For Humanity in Georgetown, SC. After a brief discussion, a friend and I had decided that we would attend this trip. Little did I know that this trip would have such an incredible impact on my outlook and the way I live my life. 

Early morning on March 7, we began our nearly 14 hour car ride all the way down to South Carolina. We finally arrived at our home for the week around 9:30 that evening, the Georgetown Presbyterian Youth Center. This youth center was an awesome place to stay for the week, although we slept on air mattresses with 11 girls in one room, there was a very nice kitchen, a pool table, ping pong table, a recreational gym and much more!

Our first day in South Carolina was a free day, which we spent an hour away from Georgetown at Myrtle Beach! It was a beautiful day, 65 degrees, no clouds, just sunshine. We explored the boardwalk, enjoyed the sand between our toes and ate dinner wherever we pleased (while everyone else had seafood, of course I ordered tacos!).

On our way home to rest up for our busy work week which would begin the following day, our group was completely taken by surprise when we were involved in a car accident. It's funny because one second, the 12 of us that were in the van were jamming to boy bands together and the next we were jolted forwards, sideways and the moment felt as if it were in slow motion.

Luckily, we were all okay. The man that hit us had ran a red light and t-boned our van was also okay. No one was hurt and Reverend Mohr, who was driving our van kept his cool and quickly got us all to safety. At this point, I feared how to the rest of the trip would go. Because despite the excellent day I just had, I had felt overwhelmed because of the accident. I had nothing to worry about, it took this situation for me to realize how blessed we all were and how praying really could make a difference and I can't shake the feeling that someone was looking over us that night.

Anyway, back to the happy story! 

Monday began and it was our first day on the job for Habitat. Instead of building a house, like most of you probably thought I was doing the entire week, we ending up fixing up Habitat for Humanity's new ReStore (much like a Goodwill). It was an 18,000 sq. foot space that required much building and retouching. Our workdays involved carrying A LOT of lumber, painting, using power saws and drilling anything and everything. For most of the week, a few girls and I had worked to revamp the ReStore's conference room, which definitely needed our help! With the help of Angie, Kelsey, Hannah, Dan, Emily, Rachel and the supervision of the worksite's awesome leader, Chris, we managed to flip the room. We stripped the border from the walls, painted about three coats, installed a new wood floor, which we needed to take out and fix plenty of times, we built a platform and the beginning of a nice set of cabinets and shelves for the conference room. 

Learning how to use power tools was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, along with putting in a floor! I bet some of my family members are out there anxious about the thought of me using a variety of saws but I assure you all that I'm fairly decent!

 Having the opportunity of working with/for such a kind-hearted and optimistic group of indiviuals was a pleasure. A learning experience. An eye-opener. Uplifting. And just an overall good time! Meeting all of the volunteers for Habitat was awesome as well. There were plenty of retired older men  and women that dedicated their days to helping build with us for a great cause. Seeing smiles on the faces of those who we were helping by devoting our break to Habitat was priceless. I would volunteer for Habitat again in a heartbeat. In fact, I have even began searching for a Habitat internship for this summer!

Our workdays ended pretty early each day, which left our free time in the evenings for activities! Some of the fun things we did during our off day and the evenings included a ghost tour of Georgetown (the most haunted town on the east coast) with the most adorable tour guide, Ginger! It was a tour around the whole town which included a very cool and detailed history lesson about Georgetown.

We also visited Pawley's Island, which was a private beach that had a variety of gorgeous beach houses and docks on the inlet. Most of the group ended up playing soccer and ultimate Frisbee on the beach, which was incredible amounts of fun! Everyone was so thrilled to have one another as company and just thinking about everyone bonding that day makes my heart smile :) 

On our day off, we headed south down to Charleston, SC. We took a ferry to Fort Sumter and toured the civil war fort. We then explored Charleston. The amount of beauty that this city possessed was astounding. It was a magnificent day, 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. But walking through Charleston, passing by the rooftop restaurants, the open door beachy cafés, the elegant bistros and the long streets of endless fashion stores convinced me that Charleston is my future home.  It's hard for me to describe to you how much I adored that city! 

After leaving Charleston, we headed on our way to explore the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, an enormous slave plantation from the 1800's. We were taken on a bus tour of the hundreds of acres, where we saw the slave huts, the marshy water and about a dozen alligators. One alligator we came across was blocking the road, we got very close! It was outrageous, a wee bit scary but nonetheless an unforgettable moment! 

Then, we took a boat tour of the Ashley River, also located on the Magnolia Plantation. We enjoyed a relaxing ride on a pontoon boat and saw more alligators! After the boat tour, our group got to walk through the house on the plantation, while hearing about the history behind the plantation, the family and the stunning home itself. 

Our group also had the great opportunity to try a famous Georgetown delicacy, known as Frogmore stew. What is Frogmore stew? Well, it's interesting. It's a concoction of corn, kielbasa, shrimp, celery and potatoes marinated in about three cases of beer. Weird huh? That's not even the weird part! The huge amount of the Frogmore stew is poured out right onto a long table, where everyone stands around it and eats the stew with their hands. No plates. No silverware. No shame! I didn't know that I'd like this because of my picky eating but hey, this meal was surprisingly delicious! 

Ah, there is just so much more and I could go on for hours or days about how much I loved this spring break. One of the most genuinely fun and inspirational weeks of my life is now over. But I cannot wait to do it again next year! I'm beyond grateful to have had this opportunity to spend my break with the most loving, comical and compassionate folks I've ever known. I've learned to look beyond my little key hole of life and open my eyes to see the beauty in every day. 

No matter what you did for your spring break, I hope you did it with the best of intentions. May I suggest that every single one of you, if given the chance, attend a Habitat spring break trip. And to all of those I met down in South Carolina or those I became friends with during the trip, I wish you all the best. Thank you all for being my inspiration and making my spring break not just a trip but an experience. ❤
 

Myrtle Beach.

 

 

The conference room with new floors, freshly painted walls & a shelf.

 

Emily and I building the platform for the podium.

 

 

Power saw professional.

A supposedly haunted graveyard in Georgetown.

Ultimate Frisbee on Pawley's Island.

The streets of Charleston & a Vineyard Vines store.

 

 

This gator was just laying in the road, we got dangerously close.

 

 

The Magnolia Plantation house.

The Ashley River, with a hidden alligator.

 

Frogmore stew.

 

The Habitat For Humanity crew on our last day.

Our group during at the Magnolia Plantation & Gardens.

 

First blog!

Friends!

Welcome to my blog and thanks for reading my first post. I'm not entirely sure of what to include within my first post, therefore, I am going to write about my ambitions for the next few months.

February just began and I'm about 3 weeks into my spring semester of junior year. Time is flying and although the past five semesters of my undergraduate years have been a tough battle, this semester is destined to be less stressful and more enjoyable! My classes consist of one media relations course (for my public relations major), two art classes (for my fine art minor) and one introduction to jazz class just for hours outside of my major. My jazz class has been surprisingly interesting and as for my art classes, they are two completely different courses but they are definitely challenging me to step out of my comfort zone, which is beneficial in becoming an art minor.

Anyways, I have been on the search for a public relations summer internship that challenges my skills in writing press releases, understanding the media, handling organization's social media and more. Not only am I looking for an internship that will help me learn with hands on and interactive experience but I am looking for an internship that I will have fun with! In the future, I hope to be a publicist or a public relations practitioner for musicians, mostly country music artists or any organizations that benefit country music. I know that seems far-fetched but that's my dream job!

Therefore, my goals for this semester include:

• Landing an internship that I will enjoy & that will challenge my abilities
• Finally making the Dean's List (another dream of mine)
• Saving up my hard-earned money to buy a car
• Getting healthier
• Relaxing & enjoying the company of friends & family

I suppose that's all I have to say for now but I will continue to update my blog on my weekly fun or lack-there-of. Thanks for reading and stay tuned.