Communications Internship Summer 2025
Hello everyone, my name is Sam Fogel. I am an advertising major with a concentration in copywriting, planning to graduate in August of 2025. In the Fall of 2021, I transferred to Temple in hopes of finding academic and professional direction. Initially, my major was communication studies, but one day before the semester started I switched into the advertising program, which was the perfect fit for me.
My internship is with the Child and Family Art Therapy Center, a private therapy practice specializing in art, music, and play therapy for children and teens on the autism spectrum.
A few summers ago, I worked as the social media manager for the company’s social skills summer camp, Camp Pegasus. The experience was very beneficial to my career, as the skills I developed in that time aligned very closely with my studies. Just a few weeks before the internship course began, my old supervisor reached out and offered me this internship.
What The Experience Has Taught Me
Mission congruency is the most valuable skill I have learned throughout my internship. The company is preparing for their intensive social skills summer program in July. The majority of my tasks have involved preparing materials for staff, parents, and campers. This involves ensuring that all documents, programs, and communications convey the same message.
I was also tasked with creating a new landing page for their website. This is not something that came especially easy to me, as it was my first time developing a website. Though the site is still a work in progress, it taught me a lot about the best ways to reach your target audience and how to effectively create the most seamless experience for the user.
Expectations vs. Experiences
My prior experience working for the company’s summer camp a few years was much different than this internship. I was expecting to engage with the community as I had in the past through social media and newsletters. I spent more time creating content and finding new ways to increase engagement on social media. I worked directly with the camp director, though I spent the majority of my work operating outside of the office. My expectations and tasks were more concrete, and I had specific goals I had to reach daily.
Now, my role was prepare the materials necessary to orient the staff, campers, and parents to the new structure of the summer program. I worked more strategically than creatively, meeting with various members of management to brainstorm, advise, and create marketing ideas to reach their audience, and how to increase the size of the audience. I was given a lot of freedom while constructing their new landing page, which allowed me to experiment with a range of strategies and layouts.
Industries and their Differences
Though it may seem obvious, an interesting observation I made is how stark the contrast can be between companies in different industries, despite having the same or similar position. For two years I worked in the development and alumni relations department of a graduate school. My current role and tasks are very similar to the work I was doing at the graduate school, but the office environment and structure was completely different. Both internships involved creating content, maintaining brand congruency, and engaging with the community. However, the target audience(s) and reasons for engaging them make the experience completely different. While one company may run everything through one person and have strict expectations, others allow for more freedom and promote collaboration.
From this observation, I came to the realization that I really enjoy working closely in smaller teams and engaging with the target community. My relationship building skills have grown immensely over the years from my various working experiences. In the future, I will more heavily pursue jobs where I can continue to develop this skill.
