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Written By: Megan Nadeau, IDCC Major Class of 2020
This past summer, I worked at Metcalf Institute in southern Rhode Island. Metcalf Institute has been fostering informed public conversations about environmental issues by conducting science training for journalists and communication training for scientists for 20 years. With an Information Design and Corporate Communication (IDCC) major and Earth, Environment, and Global Sustainability minor, this was the perfect internship for me!
For one week during June, Metcalf Institute invites ten journalists from around the world to come and participate in their Annual Science Immersion Workshop. One of my responsibilities was to greet both the journalists and public before lecture series on climate change, as well as answer any questions they had about Metcalf. Another task was to take photographs throughout the week of all lectures, excursions, and presentations. I was also responsible for interviewing the journalists to gain insight about their experience at Metcalf throughout the week. I would then transcribe these interviews to use quotes in blogs or tweets. Lastly, I was responsible for designing a thank you poster for all the donors of Metcalf Institute.
After the week-long workshop was over, my time at Metcalf was spent working as a communications intern. My tasks included:
- updating the web page with new environmental stories by Metcalf alum
- creating tweets, Facebook posts, and flyers to promote various events, and
- writing a story about an event at Metcalf for one of their newsletters.
From my time at Metcalf, I learned that the right opportunities will present themselves as long as you enjoy what you are doing! Last year, I was pursuing a marketing minor because I felt it would pair nicely with my IDCC major and look good to employers. However, I realized I didn’t love marketing and was not passionate about it. This is when I decided to follow what I was truly interested in and changed my minor to sustainability. I urge every student to put their fears aside and pursue your passion—you never know what opportunities this could open up!
