Intern Events Archive

2021 Outstanding Intern Awards & Roundtable Discussion

For the 2021 year, we recognized two interns for the Outstanding Intern Award. Bethany Brown received the undergraduate award for her internship with the Council on Aging of West Florida. Bethany's successful transition to employment with COA meant she was unable to attend the award for this presentation, so her supervisor Lauren Clark accepted for her. Teddy Siren received the graduate award fro his intensive work with the UWF Military and Veteran's Resource Center, during which he developed the Creative Coping workshop for veterans.

This year's awards were presented at on Internship Roundtable discussion with current and former interns alongside some of our internship partners from here at UWF and around the local community.

2020 Outstanding Intern Awards

For the 2020 year we recognized two interns for the Outstanding Intern Award.  Mary Oglesby received the undergraduate award for her superlative work across the department's social media platforms. Shaundra Smith-Cadogan received the graduate award for her exceptional performance on projects at Envision Physician Services. Unfortunately, we were unable to hold our Intern Fair this year, so we held an informal award presentation via Zoom with Mary, Shaundra, their site supervisors, and other me

2019 Intern Fair Outstanding Intern Noah DeSimone

At our 2019 Intern Fair, Noah DeSimone received the Outstanding Intern Award for his work with Council on Aging of West Florida. The award was presented to him by Josh Newby, Marketing Communications Director at COA. 

Students also had the opportunity to meet with many of our community partners to discuss available internships and professional opportunities within their respective career fields.

2018 Intern Fair Outstanding Intern Joshuah Jacobs

At our 2018 Intern Fair in April, Joshuah Jacobs was awarded the first Outstanding Intern Award for his work with the Mistory Podcast and the Innovation Institute during two semesters of internship. The award was presented to him by our intern coordinator, Regina Sakalarios-Rogers, at the beginning of the intern fair.

Also on the program were brief discussions of the benefits of internships from two of our community partners. David Powell represented our long-time community partner, Community Action Program Committee, Inc., and Jacquelyn Coonan represented another long-time community partner, Envision Physician Services.  After the opening events, students in attendance mingled with a variety of our community and campus partners to learn more about the experiential learning opportunities on offer

 

2017 Intern Celebration

In March, the Editing and Writing Internship held an event to celebrate the community partners who have helped us make our internship program a successful and thriving learning amenity for English majors, minors, and students in our Certificate in Public, Technical and Workplace Writing. Two former interns, Terry Griner and Hunter Brown, spoke on their experiences at Community Action Program Committee, Inc. and Indigo River Publishing respectively. Hamishe Randall of Indigo River Publishing gave an insightful presentation on the value of internships in her own career and students she has worked with in our program.

Intern Success Stories Archive

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Teddy Siren

“After bouncing around a few ideas with Dr. S-R and a useful suggestion from Dr. Garrett, I was able to craft and mold an internship that fit my interests and with the assistance of Melissa and Lori at the Military and Veterans Resource Center, Creative Coping was born.  A workshop geared towards service members past or present, Creative Coping introduces creative and reflective writing as an outlet for whatever stressors the student veteran may face.  During the pandemic, in particular, this workshop offered an outlet for some of the feelings of isolation that many veterans already struggle with and over the last two semesters, I've had the pleasure of watching a small community form -- a safe space for not only veterans but for their loved ones as well.  Creative Coping is still evolving, still growing, even after my internship, but I wouldn't have even known where to start if it hadn't been for the program.”

Joshuah Jacobs

"Through the Writing and Editing Internship program, I worked with the Mistory Podcast and the Innovation Institute's Gulf Stories. The value of this program is beyond words, how does one describe the moment when you find your calling in life.  Without the internship program and the support of both Dr. Sakalarios-Rogers and Justin McCoy I never would have considered a life as a Podcast Producer.  Since completing my internship, I've been hired by the University of West Florida to complete several projects including a full grammar podcast for the Writing Lab with Mamie Hixon titled Let's Talk Grammar.  The internship program has given me job experience, confidence in my abilities, a career path, and invaluable networking connections." 

Dakota Parks

"I signed up for an English internship because I wanted hands-on experience in a potential field. English is such a unique degree because it can be utilized in so many fields. Your undergraduate degree is the time to explore those different options. Little did I know that my internship at Ballinger Publishing would give me confidence in my writing, the ability to work with an amazing creative team, and relevant professional experience. The team at Ballinger allowed me to pitch ideas and write as many articles as I wanted, while mentoring me one-on-one. Since finishing my internship, I have accepted a permanent position with Ballinger Publishing as the assistant editor for Pensacola Magazine. In addition to that title, I get to write articles for our in-house magazine and curate the content for a weekly newspaper. I’ll be starting my graduate degree at UWF next fall, and it’s safe to say I would not be where I am today without the English internship."