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Profile
of Casey Buxton, Intern, Public and Professional Writing Program,
7/07
by Casey Buxton, PPW/Writing Center Publicity Intern
 I
am currently the PPW Program Intern working with Jean Grace and
Pam O’Brien.
As a Political
Science and French major, I took on the PPW Certificate to round
out my degree. After reading an email sent out by Jean regarding
the need for an intern for the PPW Program for the Spring 2007 term,
I responded a little too late. I did, however, pursue the opportunity
throughout the term as Jean and Pam’s student in Writing for
the Public and Persuasive Writing in Advertising and Fundraising,
respectively (I recommend both courses). As the summer term approached,
I spoke with Jean and Pam again about securing the internship opportunity
for Summer 2007. And this time, it worked.
After getting to know Jean and Pam as their student, it was easy
to slide into the internship. Since I had to juggle class, two internships
and a volunteering project for the first half of the summer, I spent
most of my time for six weeks organizing and updating the Service
Learning in PPW Manual and the PPW Internship Guide. It was actually
a good experience looking back on it; it taught me good verbal communication
skills, how to call new people, introduce myself over the phone
and start a conversation with someone in a business capacity.
Once the second half of the summer started and my class and volunteer
project were over, more PPW projects started to get underway. I
researched and interviewed PPW alumni for an article to be published
in Write Now, the PPW newsletter. I organized and planned the PPW
end-of-term event at Joe Mama’s. I wrote the intern profiles
and edited the graduating senior profiles as well. Needless to say,
I was busy.
Working mostly independently and from the comfort of my home, I
learned how to stay focused and keep track of my projects. I used
to believe that working from home would be the best scenario, but
now I’m not so sure. I found it interesting that PPW taught
me something about myself.
After working as the PPW Intern, I feel much more prepared for a
writing-related career, and although I plan to work in marketing
communications rather than professional writing I appreciate the
experience that PPW has given me.
My advice to interns: Intern again and again and again.
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