Internship Reflection Report

I can't believe that yesterday was my last day at the museum.  The "Wednesday Morning Girls," comprised of Office Manager Stacy and the volunteer women who are in the office on Wednesdays, sent me off with a care package of goodies and a very nice card.  It really is unbelievable how fast this semester went.  Below is the copied text of my final internship assignment, a reflection paper for my academic advisor:


Overview

Through my credited, unpaid 120-hour publicity-focused internship at the Piper Aviation Museum in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, I have discovered a lot about my changing personal mindset up until this point in my academic career. The opportunity to take on communication/public relations projects that were unlike others in my past has strengthened my confidence in my personally flexible and creative abilities. I have also increased my professional etiquette and have been able to practice workplace communication skills in the office of a nonprofit organization.


What I Learned

It is now clearer to me that I am passionate about and feel comfortable in nonprofit settings. After serving AmeriCorps in my hometown last summer, I have decided that working in the nonprofit sector is my overall career goal. However, I am aware that this long-term goal will likely be placed ‘on hold’ until I have the opportunity to gain more professional experience, and until I am more financially stable. In the back of my mind, possibly in the near future, I have wanted to find the communication path that will allow me to work in a museum, zoo, or other informational organization where new exhibits are constantly arriving and being created. Though the Piper Aviation Museum has a minimal amount of funding, and ‘new exhibits’ are few over extended periods, my experiences there have only solidified my interests in nonprofit/museum-based careers.


How Previous Course Material Impacted My Personal Performance

I cannot reflect upon the impact that my Lock Haven University course material has had on my internship experience without first recognizing how influential ADAC119 (First Year Student Seminar), a class for students with undeclared disciplines, has been on my educational career. If not for the variety of communication career paths that were encouragingly presented to me at the Lock Haven University Fall 2007 Majors Fair, a required-attendance event for ADAC119, I may not have been able to commit to a field of study at Lock Haven University.

My internship at the museum has allowed me to apply concepts from almost all of my SPCH and COMM courses to ‘real life’ field projects and assignments. Initially, I was able to put the job application, resume/cover letter writing, and interviewing skills from SPCH320 (Business Communication) to practice in order to obtain the public relations internship at the museum.

On a small but significant scale, courses like SPCH104 (Interpersonal Communication) and SPCH304 (Intercultural Communication), made me conscious of ageism, which is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person’s age. Keeping this concept in mind, I was able to quickly adapt and react to the frequent conversations with my superiors at the museum, who are almost all 50+ years my senior. During the final stages of my development of The Cub Reporter, the museum’s official newsletter, I was approached by several of the museum’s directors with editorial suggestions. Specifically, Russ Nelson, an ex-music professor at LHU with a passion for writing, approached me with his feedback. Russ explained to me that he believed that we had a writing characteristic in common: we both over-clarify simple ideas. This similarity was Russ’ subtle and friendly way of telling me to ‘keep it simple,’ and I appreciated his tactfulness. However, he also suggested that I reconsider a few stylistic decisions. Keeping the negative bias that can often be a result of an age gap, I carefully explained to him the various types of news leads and structures that I have studied this semester in COMM190 (Writing for the Mass Media).

Studying Associated Press style guidelines in COMM190, while interning, was a great combination of experiences. Not only was I able to apply the style rules to the spring edition of The Cub Reporter, but I also used my newly acquired knowledge of AP punctuation, capitalization, and numerical guidelines while writing articles that will be published in local newspapers this summer.

To reference ageism awareness again, along with other various SPCH104 interpersonal communication concepts, I also worked closely on a few occasions with Ira Masemore, former Dean of the College of Education and Human Services at Lock Haven University. Ira currently serves as Archive Curator at the Piper Museum and, at 77 years of age, he is a ‘funny guy’ who loves to emphasize our age difference in an overly 1950s-masculine, mock-condescending tone. Being aware of ageism and its respective stereotypes helped me to look beyond Ira’s severely outdated and humoristic approach to our male-female-age-gap relationship and focus more admiringly on his knowledge of Piper Engineering history and passion for the subject.

On several occasions, my closest supervisor, Piper Aviation Museum Office Manager Stacy Young, complimented me on my speaking skills. I again credit SPCH104, as well as SPCH320, SPCH103 (Small Group Communication), and COMM345 (Advanced Public Speaking) with giving me the in-class practice that helped me to comfortably think on my feet, analyze workplace scenarios, and appropriately articulate ideas effectively.

The marketing analysis experience that I gained through SPCH400 (Capstone) research with Melissa Jacona, regarding the targeted clientele and advertising tactics used by Lock Haven salons, was highly applicable when assisting Stacy with new gift shop merchandise ideas. I also used audience analysis in this assignment, a concept I first understood in a non-public speaking setting in SPCH305 (Public Relations). Knowing that most of the museum’s visitors are often small families or senior men and women, we focused on several new children’s items. These included small toys, ‘Piper the Cub’ aviator teddy bears, backpacks, and other articles of clothing. I even had the opportunity to design a toddler and infant-sized t-shirt; my design incorporated a small yellow Piper J-3 aircraft and the text “future piper pilot.” We also discussed and followed through with several new adult merchandise items, including a tumbler that I also created the design for. Stacy was able to show me the final proofs of the designs on Monday, May 2, my last day as an intern. She had received the proofs from the printing company on a day last week that I was not at the museum. Being able to see how the print shop cleaned them up was very exciting for me. Many visitors have requested that we offer items that showcase not only the Piper J-3, but also other models of Piper aircraft. To satisfy these requests, we ordered several adult-sized t-shirts and ball caps that feature aircraft such as the Piper Cherokee, Comanche, Tomahawk, etc.


What I Accomplished

Of course, it is impossible to list everything that I have physically produced and mentally accomplished over the course of my internship, but I have highlighted several prominent assignments.

The spring 2011 edition of The Cub Reporter, which focused on the contributions of time, effort, and funding that have helped the museum to grow and reach the point it is at today, was my largest and proudest accomplishment during my time at the museum. A challenging task that was requested of me as I brainstormed ideas for the newsletter was finding a sensitive, yet persuasive way to encourage the museum’s members and newsletter readers to continue their donations. Being able to apply the central theme of highlighting past contributions and further emphasizing the necessity of continued efforts, was a very exciting challenge and I am glad that I was able to spend so much time perfecting. Eight full pages of front and back articles, advertising articles, and interest pieces was a lot of work to take on by myself, particularly since I had never created a document of that length and scope before. I am proud to say that I now have experience like that under my belt and am thankful for all of the outside-of-class (COMM190) feedback that Dr. Madelyn Williams more than willingly provided me.

Another larger assignment that I completed was a display case setup for the Ohio/Pennsylvania Interstate 80 welcome center. Apparently the welcome center was recently remodeled and a member of the center’s staff approached the Piper Aviation Museum with an interest in placing museum items in the center’s lobby. We immediately arranged for a small Piper J-3 model to be sent and hung at the welcome center. I then took on the task of perusing archived materials for interesting Piper Engineering pieces, as well as several items from the museum’s gift shop, in order to choose what should be put on display on the available 3-foot by 1.5-foot enclosed shelf. The final display package, after being carefully arranged, was photographed for instructional purposes at the museum before being compressed and mailed. The package contained merchandise items, including one of the new ‘Piper the Cub’ aviator teddy bears, aviation patches and pins, a museum mug, keychain, postcard, toy Piper Cherokee, and a small flight manual. Along with these items were several golden coins that, at one time, were distributed to Piper aircraft employees and dealers as a way to encourage enrollment in Introductory Flight Lessons. I also typed up and sent informational foam display placards for the J-3 model and other various items in the display case.

In a campus community publicity effort, I created/copied/distributed flyers for the residence halls and was able to get the museum’s office to approve a new $4.00 student rate. My main goal has been to encourage, among students, a higher interest in the historical sociological and economic impact that Piper Engineering has had on the city of Lock Haven. I even used Piper Engineering/the Piper Aviation Museum as my topic for a 7-minute “Speech to Motivate” for COMM345 this semester as a way to share information with an audience of peers.

I am disappointed to admit that the Residence Hall Association/Piper Aviation Museum fundraiser that I had intended to organize did not end up working out. The newsletter was such a highly important project that I was unable to put enough time into the fundraising project throughout the first half of the semester. There simply is not a director or volunteer staff member who is capable of dedicating the large period of time and energy necessary to create an 8-page newsletter. By the time I was handing out copies of my first completed draft of the newsletter, the Residence Hall Association was no longer interested in participating in a fundraising competition. Not only did it take months for the RHA supervisor to respond to my emails, but when I finally did receive a response, it was a rather unprofessional and misinformed one. The RHA student president had approved the small amount of participation that I requested and also agreed to fund a pizza party for the hall that raised the most funds by the end of a to-be-determined period. After receiving inappropriately handled email from the RHA faculty supervisor, I decided to tactfully let my proposal drop. It’s disappointing to me that something could not be worked out; however, I am proudly aware of how maturely I was able to handle the insensitive miscommunication incident that resulted.

Update!

The newsletter is FINALLY going to print today!  It took a while to get the first and second drafts around to the staff and members who wanted to give feedback, but we are emailing a PDF version of the final copy to the publisher today.  We decided against renaming the newsletter after all.  It is still "The Cub Reporter," but now the publication includes the tagline "Bringing History to Life!"  

To bring you up to speed, I've been doing a lot of miscellaneous tasks in between working on the newsletter.  I was asked to come up with 2 new designs for the gift shop: a "Future Piper Pilot" toddler t-shirt and a design for a tall tumbler glass.  Several weeks ago I did a "speech to inform" on the museum as an assignment in my Advanced Public Speaking class.  I wore a Piper Aviation Museum pin on my suit jacket and gave my fellow classmates about 7 minutes' worth of information regarding the history of Piper in Lock Haven, and reflected a bit on my volunteer experiences up to that point in time.  I have also been interviewed by two  classmates for two very different assignments.  One girl used me as a source in her Fundamentals of Public Speaking "speech to inform" about the various exciting things you can do in small-town Lock Haven.  Another classmate wrote a current piece about the museum for her Magazine Writing class.

I've also been randomly selling tickets to a spaghetti dinner that the Lock Haven Sons of Italy is having to benefit the museum on May 18th.  I'm going to an aviation-related pancake breakfast in Lock Haven on Sunday, May 1st to try to sell more spaghetti dinner tickets, too.

Disappointingly, the fundraiser with LHU RHA fell through.  There was a lot of miscommunication that ended up happening among the Residence Life staff and they were under the impression that I needed more participation from them than I really did.  I received a rather unprofessional email from the RHA supervisor and, to avoid any more hassle, I have decided to just let the idea drop.  On a fairly relevant note, I have created and distributed promotional museum flyers to each of the residence halls.  They will be placed in a rack with other local brochures and remain there until next year, or until they are all gone.  It's not the kind of publicity that I had originally wanted to use with the on-campus students, but I  guess it's better than nothing.  We have also created a student rate for the museum, $4.00 with a valid student ID.

Now that the newsletter is done, and I've basically completed the tasks that they had lined up for me, things are starting to slow down.  I'm going to head back to archives again today to try to come up with a few items for the western PA I80 welcome center.  The center has offered us a shelf, about 1.5ft x 3ft, to use at our discretion.  We have already sent a small J-3 Cub model to hang in the welcome center and I have written up a little bit of J-3 information for a placard that will join the model as soon as we decide upon items for the shelf.

Finally: a completed first draft of the newsletter

It has taken a lot of time, effort, and lots and lots of copy/pasting/editing (with Spring Break and a few other setbacks), but I have officially completed the first draft of the museums latest publication.  We're going to print out copies and send them around museum staff members and work out the kinks next.  Also, we are deciding whether we would like to stick with the grayscale theme or, for a nice change, add color to this edition.

A quick update

I suppose it's time for an update since I haven't been posting much on here lately.

The newsletter and new format are coming together nicely.  As you may have read in a pervious post, one of my assigned objectives regarding the newsletter was to rename the publication, along with creating a new format.  The Cub Reporter  has been replaced by The Piper Aircraft Periodical: A Flight of Passage.  

At this point I only need to plug a few more small pieces into the template and choose images to be included with a few articles.  For copyright purposes, and because I really want to snoop around all of the cool stuff in archives, I'm going to start my search for an exemplary image of a J-3 Cub to go along with the Rep. Mike Hanna article this week.  Ira Masemore, secretary of the museum's Board of Directors and former Dean of Education and Human Services at Lock Haven University, finds his home in archives and is quite the character.  Perusing the archives will definitely be an interesting experience, particularly because Ira is such a piece of work himself.   

Pennsylvania State Plane?

The Lock Haven Express posted an article on the possible designation of an official "State Aircraft" for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Our state animal is the Whitetail deer, insect is the Firefly, flower is the Mountain laurel and our potential aircraft is the Piper J-3 Cub, but it's in the works.  Here's the article's link:  Hanna reintroduces legislation to designate Piper-built plane as state aircraft - The Express

Week 2

I figured I'd take a minute to get a blog in while I sit here and listen to Museum Board President, John Merinar, go over his agenda for the day with Stacy Young, the office manager.  I finally started drafting articles for the newsletter on Monday and am going to continue tackling my various pieces today.  So far I've reformatted the Membership Application for those who would like to receive the newsletter, as well as other special items.  I've also completed a piece that introduces the theme of this newsletter.  Our general theme is "Where we've been, where we are and where we want to go..." and highlights the volunteers and contributors who have helped the museum accomplish all that they have since moving into the building that formerly housed Piper Engineering in 1996, as well as current events, the variety and number of visitors in the last year, etc.  I'm also continuing to brainstorm ideas for a new title and tagline for our publication, which is currently The Cub Reporter, "Keeping the Legend Alive."  We are looking to change the name because Piper Aircraft, Inc. corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility currently resides in Vero Beach, Florida and we include information about current Piper Aircraft news, not focusing strictly on the Piper Cub as in earlier years.

Stacy also mentioned that she'd like to discuss new items for the gift shop this afternoon.

William Thomas Piper

While looking online for newsletter ideas and brainstorming a new name for the Aviation Museum's official publication, I decided to look for some William T. Piper quotes.  Somewhat surprisingly, I stumbled across a Time Magazine article from 1961.  Here's the link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,828739,00.html#ixzz1DHlaAvLd