By Steven Nyeste

Many college students are motivated, excited and desire creating change and leaving their marks in life after graduation. My question is, why wait?

During my nine months as the community affairs intern with the Village of Canal Winchester, not only did I gain experiences that directly lead toward my future career path in government and public affairs, but I helped implement social media for the village’s overall communication strategy.

I worked closely with my boss in drafting a plan, and then working on explaining the benefits of having a presence on both Twitter and Facebook to village officials. We had to do some convincing and we had many obstacles to overcome, but we kept at it.

With a budget of exactly $0 to complete the project, I helped my boss with tips, suggestions and tools from various websites that I had been researching, along with creating a list of people to follow on Twitter. I actually designed the current layout on the Twitter page. What happened? The village of Canal Winchester embraced the new social media presence. Citizens now know where they can go to find answers to questions, and to share any concerns and most often, kind words about what they love about living there.

At a village council meeting, my boss and I presented the new pages to the media in attendance, along with the village officials. I was asked a few questions by reporters, and I was quoted in one publication, and had my name published in another. Having a few quotes in the paper while only being an intern is an awesome feeling.

There was a lot of work involved in the planning, researching, convincing and designing of this project and at first the project seemed overbearing. I knew going in that this project would add a lot of work on my part and it could have been easier deferring the project. When an opportunity like this comes along, however, I knew I had to take it. I believe the whole point in an internship to be challenged and to grow from the experiences; otherwise, what’s the point of having the internship?

My suggestions to you interns out there: Learn all you can about the company or organization you work for. Once you know all you can, don’t be afraid to make suggestions and use research as your source of confidence. Successfully achieving tasks is great, but if you help implement something that makes your boss’ life easier, your organization will never forget you and your hard work. Don’t just reach expectations, but become remarkable and overachieve. Leave your mark, even if you are only in college!

Steven Nyeste received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Dominican University in May. He majored in public relations.

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