Three 做厙TV students are using this summer to get a head start on their careers. Though they represent a variety of majors and have strikingly different postgrad goals, each of them has one thing in common: they found their experiences through co-curricular opportunities the university provides beyond the classroom, from a Texas Film Festival to the Pittsburgh Steelers home stadium.
Gianna Rupert 26, an English literature and creative writing double major from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is interning as a script reader for the Austin Film Festival. Rupert was first introduced to the festival last fall, when she and several other students attended the festivals writing conference in Texas and participated in workshops, networking events and panels for storytellers at every career stage including some of Hollywoods top screenwriting talents.
My internship is a great opportunity to gain hands-on experience while building my r矇sum矇 and making connections in the film industry, Rupert said. AFF gives me the chance to network with people in the field, which will be invaluable as I pursue a career in screenwriting.
Once Rupert learned she would be one of the festivals summer script readers, she found that she was amply prepared for the role by Assistant Professor of Communications Joseph Giombonis in-class exercises, which had students read through and evaluate published scripts. These skills have also proved helpful in her other summer venture as a senior programmer for Williamsports River Valley Film Festival, where she is in charge of screening and ultimately selecting films for the festival.
Her film experience also extends to her role as a production assistant on the Emmy Awardwinning film Champions of the Golden Valley. That opportunity came her way through alumnus Baktash Ahadi 05.
Rupert hopes to work in the film industry after graduation, ideally as a screenwriter.
Ethan Harnish 28, an accounting and finance double major from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is working as an audit & assurance intern for McKonly & Asbury. He was connected to the position by attending the Sigmund Weis School of Business Meet the Firms event, which brings representatives from some of the nations top accounting firms to campus for students to make early networking connections. Harnish preemptively networked with alumnus Dan Dorgan 15 to ensure he could make the most of the event.
Dan has spent the majority of his career with McKonly & Asbury and worked up to the manager role in the firm, Harnish said. He was extremely helpful in explaining the role of medium-sized accounting firms in the corporate world to me. On top of that he had great things to say about the firm, how much he enjoys his career, and tips that would be valuable for me at the start of my career.
Harnishs primary responsibility within the firm is auditing employee benefit plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and stock ownership, and testing different parts of each program to ensure they arent vulnerable to financial risk. Harnish said his internship has significantly expanded his base of knowledge about his field and the workforce. His new understanding of himself as a worker is drawn from his biggest challenge: learning to accept failure.
In a perfect world, I would know exactly what I am doing and get all of my work done without having to ask for help, Harnish observed. But not knowing everything immediately is natural and helps you learn. If I was avoiding failure, then I wouldnt be able to attempt a new audit, a new test or a new type of work that Ive been assigned. Doing as much as you can, failing, and finding out why you made that mistake and where you went wrong has taught me so much.
David Birmingham 27, a marketing major from West Lawn, Pennsylvania, is working as an entertainment marketing intern for Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He found out about the position during a Sigmund Weis School of Business alumni engagement excursion to Pittsburgh, which included the stadium as one of its stops. A meeting there led to Birmingham landing an interview and ultimately his internship. Since his first day on the job, Birmingham learned that the only thing he could expect was the unexpected.
My responsibilities vary from day to day, Birmingham said. I have helped the entertainment operations team prepare for a variety of events, specifically ensuring that sponsors and performances have proper scheduling and preparation for each event. These events include Morgan Wallen concerts, Monster Jam, the Steelers season, Fourth of July events, World Cup watch parties, and the Kickoff and Rib Festival.
Birmingham saw this variety as one of the internships biggest draws, feeling that its mixture of marketing for professional sports teams, entertainers and Pittsburghs local festivals would be extraordinary preparation for his future.
I really did not know what I was going into with my internship; marketing is a vast subject, but I was prepared to adapt to whatever was asked of me, Birmingham said. I was not expecting to work on so many different projects and events at once, but with information and emails exchanging at different speeds, I learned to adapt.
Birmingham wants to continue working in events management after graduation.
