Kathryn Wilson, an advertising/public relations and Spanish double major at Drury University, is one of 15 students nationwide this year accepted into the American Advertising Federation’s Vance L. Stickell Memorial Internship Program. Established in 1989 in honor of the former executive vice president of marketing for the Los Angeles Times, the 10-week program will send Wilson to Austin, Texas, this summer to work in social-media marketing and PR for Whole Foods Market. The Nixa native will receive a $1,500 stipend. Wilson is the seventh Drury student in 10 years to secure a Stickell internship.
Stickell Nomination “I knew you had to be nominated by your department professors. … Being a part of the American Advertising Federation, we have a club on campus, and I am the vice president of the advertising and public relations club. … Each school that has a membership can nominate two students within the department. And they must be a junior. I was lucky to be nominated.”
Getting Picked “I’m trying to be as coachable as possible, just learning and observing what I can from my professors. That might have been something they noticed. After my professors nominated me, I went through an interview process where I had to have an updated resume and write a few different writing prompts. One was about the most effective brand in integrated marketing. … I wrote about Starbucks. … I had to write 300 words on that. Then, I had to write about two heroes in my life. That was 200 words each. One was a public hero and one was a personal hero.”
Whole Interview “With the Stickell internship, they pick the top students and then they pair you with a host company. Sometimes you have to interview, and sometimes you don’t. You don’t get a say with where you end up. I ended up being paired with Whole Foods, and I did have to interview with Whole Foods. I did a phone interview with a few team members in the public relations department. … I start work on May 27, so I’ll have to go down on May 24. It’s a 10-week program, so I’ll be there until Aug. 7.”
Austin and After “I have been told that I’d be doing some work with social media, maybe some press releases, and I’ll be helping out with whatever they need. … I’ve never been to Austin before, so this will be a fun experience for me. … This internship will enlighten for me what I want to do further and challenge me in ways I haven’t been challenged before. … After I graduate, I’d really like to get into user-experience design. I’d like to work as a user-experience designer or interaction designer for a big company or advertising agency. Typically, that person is dealing with your mobile app or website, and seeing how consumers are interacting with your product. Then, they work to really make that an enjoyable experience.”
On Campus “Right now, I’m the Panhellenic president. The Panhellenic [Council] is the governing body for all the sororities on Drury’s campus. In addition, I’m a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. I’m a member of the advertising and public relations club, and I’ve just recently joined Enactus (and) helped put together an annual report. We use that to compete. Right now, we are at competition. Our presenters present what we’ve been doing all year, and the annual report is a booklet (judges) can flip through before the presentation.”[[In-content Ad]]
