Dear Pitt Athletics, WHIRL Publishing and WordWrite Communications
In three months I will be graduating from a top university in the country. In three months I will be out in the real world, maybe with a job, or maybe living with my parents. But, in three months I will feel prepared, experienced and like the PR person I thought I would be when I was just a confused 18-year-old freshman. 
I am writing this letter to you, my former and current internships to say thank you. Thank you internships for giving me knowledge, telling me at times my work is horrible, letting me succeed, but also helping me feel prepared and giving me real-world lessons where sitting in a college classroom can’t.
I went into my first internship panicked because I thought I was the only one who didn’t have a real internship and my resume would be bare when I graduated. It didn’t take long for me to learn that internships were much more than a time killer and I did not really know what I was doing.
I was only 19 years old and working for an athletic department; I was so sure I wanted to work in sports public relations. College can’t teach you what field of public relations you want to work in. College also can’t teach you how to speak to angry fans, how to email important documents to former athletes or talk on the phone to the media before game day, but luckily I learned from you, my first internship. These were all invaluable experiences that I cherish and took with me as I went in search of another internship opportunity.
Maybe sports PR wasn’t my path; I’m not sure what my path is, but I moved on to publishing. You were a great internship to me. I was able to wear so many different hats and understand a completely different industry. I learned that my ideas could differ from my boss, something college couldn’t teach me because we are taught to always listen to our professor. I learned to be creative and curious, and apply that every single day. You somehow even let us have an intern-based photo-shoot—maybe we aren’t quite ready for Vogue, but it was fun! The conversations I was able to have during my time there were unique, fun and fueled by creativity.
In my final time around with this internship thing, I chose an industry I’ve never worked in (shocking). I chose to work with a PR agency. To put everything I’ve learned into words, I couldn’t—and I’ve only been here a month. As an internship, you have been great because you have taught me everything college never, ever could. I’ve learned everything from using social media for business to how a firm realistically meets the needs of a client (they sure do a good job sugar coating that in all the classes I have ever taken).
It’s easy for a professor to say, “You have to be on LinkedIn and Twitter, and it is absolutely necessary.” Well, they’re right, to an extent. However, no professor wants to get into the nitty-gritty of social media, most likely cause they aren’t using it correctly, and at that point it’s better to be off social media than use it wrong. As an internship, you have taught me the importance of social media and the impact it can have on a brand by its reach. In the digital era we are living in today, putting what you can on social media is important.
As my last few months as an undergraduate college student come to an end, I clearly have been doing some reflecting. This letter is to thank you, internships — paid and unpaid, for teaching me everything I almost thought I could live without. Internships are the unsung heroes of our life and don’t get the credit they deserve, but I am paying it forward.
To all the interns out there who think they aren’t getting what they deserve from their internship, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Try and implement a new idea or ask to sit in on a meeting to see what the team is currently working on. Take advantage of being the intern and failing, because if you fail a class that’s it, but if you fail here, you are encouraged to try again.
Sincerely,
Jessica Klimczyk
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Jess Klimczyk is an intern at WordWrite Communications. You can find her on Twitter @JessKlim.
