By: Julia Benda
This summer I interned with Renewable Energy Group (REG) as part of their communications team. Throughout the summer, I assisted the communications team with several long- and short-term projects that allowed me to improve my skills and learn new ones.
At REG, I mainly worked on my final project and their return to office events. My final project focused on archiving and promoting the history of REG. The project first involved sorting through past media coverage, communications and advertisements to understand the archival system. Next, I drafted social media posts, video scripts and a history milestone outline to improve REG’s history promotion. I completed my project with a final presentation to the senior leadership team members at REG and answered questions from the audience about my findings. The presentation incorporated the research I did on archival systems and showcased social media posts I drafted. My presentation also examined the cost and return to business and other potential ways to promote REG’s history moving forward.
The return to office events entailed communicating with multiple vendors over the course of three weeks to ensure that REG Ames had food vendors every Monday and beverage vendors every Friday for three weeks. Additionally, I worked on writing and sending out individual press releases for the 35 interns at REG. I wrote a weekly newsletter for over 900 people, filmed and edited video content for a company safety initiative video and assisted in various tasks related to the partnership launch between Manchester United Football Club and REG.
Smaller projects included organizing and writing internal communications for company return to office events and helping create designs in Adobe InDesign for various projects.
I enjoyed working in an office environment, getting to know the employees at REG and collaborating with the communications team. My experience at REG gave me great insight into the field of communications, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to spend my summer learning and improving my skill set.
I am especially grateful for the David P. and Rose M. Donovan Scholarship that allowed me to take the 499A internship class this summer and further my academics while also gaining experience for my future career.
Editor’s note: Edited for length and clarity. Greenlee 499A internship scholarships support students who have a primary major in advertising, journalism and mass communication or public relations and are completing their required 400-hour internships. The application is available each spring.