Red Knights Experience Their Calling

By BSM's EPIC Marketing & Communications Intern Terra Waymire-Rozman '23

Benilde-St. Margaret’s is dedicated to providing an education for students that can be used after graduation and potentially in a variety of areas in their life. One example of real life application is the internship with the BSM Marketing and Communications department. Students who intern learn about effective communication, sales, advertisement, and how to engage the community at large. This internship is helpful for students with a diverse set of interests or an interest in business, design, or social outreach.

The EPIC Marketing and Communications internship (MarComm) began in the fall of 2019, immediately capturing students' varying interests. “I had always been interested in going into business and majoring in it. But I wasn't sure of what [specific] field I wanted to go into, whether it was accounting, finance, or marketing,” Junior Elle Sinning said. Sinning has immersed herself in many business classes offered at BSM and wanted to gain experience within the industry. She joined the Marketing and Communications internship team to learn more about specific marketing skills like social media campaigns and common advertising strategies, which will help her decide which facet of business she wishes to pursue.

For students interested in the many aspects of business, like Sinning, the curtain will be lifted and students will be shown strategies utilized for sales and marketing. “I really like sales. I like knowing what will catch peoples’ eye, and the analytics behind it; knowing what gets people interested in what they're looking at [is important].” Sinning said. Knowing how to market to your target audience is an important skill to bring in new business which the current interns are developing.

This internship attracts students from a range of interests not only in business but also those pursuing artistic paths like graphic design. “Anytime we're designing in Canva it's probably the most fun,” Junior Julia Lealos said. “It's really [interesting to] see what my designs would look like as a finished product. For me, I feel more creative so when it comes to that, the photography and graphic design elements [are my favorite things to do].” Lealos and other interns were given the opportunity to design the junior high and senior high program of studies, as well as multiple posts to be put on Instagram and the school monitors.

In this internship students have the chance to create and collaborate on assignments to help BSM’s Marketing and Communications team. Students also earn a half credit in return. “The work itself is not hard, especially because it's just an internship, but the fact that you're balancing it with your school work and extra curriculars, that's probably the hardest part. It is manageable but it is tricky,” Lealos commented. The internship supervisors, David Lucs, BSM’s director of marketing & communications and Ife Adebola, BSM’s marketing & communications specialist, understand the difficulty in balancing the internship and schoolwork. “We always want to ensure the students are putting their school work first,” Lucs noted, adding, “Our goal is to provide plenty of opportunities for the students to learn new skills and express themselves creatively through communication and marketing opportunities within the EPIC internship.”

There are many things covered during the internship with the Marketing and Communications department at BSM and the takeaways and lessons from this internship can make a lasting impact. “I have learned more about marketing in general and what the job entails,” Sinning said. “In particular, some things I have learned have helped me in my classes and in my daily life: working with a team, time management, and getting out of my comfort zone to be able to talk to groups of people I would not normally have talked to.”

The Marketing and Communications Intership is an invaluable experience for students. MarComm is one many internships providing insights into real world professions, each with their own specialties. To learn more about these other options visit: EPIC.