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Profile
of Angela Sarkis, Intern, Big Science, 12/04
By Brittany Colatrella
PPW Intern
Angela Sarkis is a Communications Major who chose to enroll in the
Public & Professional writing program after realizing that “the
PPW certificate is a practical means to develop my writing skills
and make me a worthy candidate for employment.”
Angela’s first experience with the PPW program was as a service-learning
student in Spring 2004. As part of the course, she spent 30 hours
volunteering at the Southwestern PA Red Cross Headquarters; this
experience has resulted in an internship there for the upcoming
Spring 2005 semester!
Angela spent this semester working as an intern for a sound effects
studio called Big Science. “Big Science creates the music,
sound effects, and voiceovers for radio and TV commercials,”
and Angela liked this position because it balanced out her experience
in the non-profit sector with one in the commercial arena. For the
most part, Angela’s work consists of writing press releases
and newsletter articles; she also spends a lot of time researching
and observing.
Last month, Angela had the awesome experience of participating in
a voiceover recording session. Initially, Angela thought she was
sitting in the presence of the advertising executives, the audio
technicians, and the voiceover talent. However, she soon found out
that “the talent was being recorded out of a studio in New
York city over an ISDN phone line. It sounded like she was right
there the studio, but they were actually paying about $100 an hour
to connect to the other studio live.”
Overall, Angela’s semester at Big Science has been a valuable
learning experience, and an opportunity to make friends (i.e., connections!)
in the business. The company consists of only 5 people, so Angela
was able to get to know everyone. The producer is a young, marketing
graduate student, so she gave Angela “a lot of advice about
school, getting a job, and moving forward.” In the end, Angela
has produced a few additional pieces of work for her portfolio,
a better understanding of the world of for-profit business, a greater
knowledge of the terminology of the advertising industry.
Angela believes that what she has learned in her public & professional
writing classes—Written Professional Communication, Writing
for the Public, and Persuasive Writing for Advertising and Fundraising—
has been an immense help to her success in her internship. She thinks
adding the service-learning component helps students “test
the water…[and] see whether or not a specific working environment
is right for them.” Plus, Angela advises everyone against
procrastinating: “Start experiential learning activities early
because they look great on your resume and teach you things that
you could never learn in a classroom.”
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