CCI interns share insights from 2007-08

At a presentation for Provost Judy Bonner and other honored guests on May 8, Creative Campus staff, interns and graduate assistants had an opportunity to discuss the projects for which they’ve taken charge and, more importantly, what they’ve learned from their experience.

When he took the assignment of leading Freshman Forum’s Creative Leadership group, graduate assistant Jason Doblin said that he knew how to teach creativity, and he knew how to teach leadership. How to teach students to be creative leaders was less clear at first. Eventually, Doblin discovered a system that involved utilizing fun activities for case studies that lead to ideas for real world applications.

Intern Jessica Garcia utilized questions formulated based on survey data gathered by the Arts of Tuscaloosa honors course to conduct small discussion groups to ascertain what issues are of greatest concern to students on the UA campus as well as what ideas students had for artistic portrayals of the issues. In addition to gaining research experience, Garcia said she learned numerous life lessons from her year as an intern, such as don’t be afraid to jump in, keep it real, stay focused, and celebrate small victories.

Graduate assistant M. Austin James spent the year working on projects related to Creative Education, including the dance education program in local elementary schools and the renovation of the arts and crafts room at Boys & Girls Clubs of West Alabama (see slideshow at left). James said that initially, he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do and made a few missteps, but he ultimately discovered a lot about himself and what he could achieve. He also learned about the importance of collaboration.

Although intern and recent graduate Christine Palma facilitated a partnership between Creative Campus and the Alabama Environmental Council to host the annual Earthfest Extravaganza, she said she benefited most from serving on the marketing committee that formed in the spring semester to help promote Creative Campus events and projects. Palma said that she learned about the intersection of communication and business. She also gained a greater sense of the creative economy, which will help her as she begins her career.

Intern Hilary Phillips met great success as coordinator of Crimson Hauntings (see video at right) and as a partner in the Boys & Girls Clubs project. However, she said she learned more from the failure she encountered while attempting to put together Project Wind. Among the lessons the experience afforded her were that she sometimes has to take the blame when things go wrong, and that the mature thing to do is to make the best of situations that do not go as planned. In summary, Phillips said, “I learned to be an adult.”

Laura Pitts began the year as managing editor of Missing Ink, Creative Campus’s online arts magazine, and became editor by the end of the fall semester. She worked with a new designer, Stephen Lowell, to revamp the Missing Ink site in the spring. The experience taught her how to manage a staff, including the all-important task of morale boosting when stories didn’t pan out as planned.

As Web mistress for Creative Campus, graduate assistant Erika Pribanic-Smith set and achieved number of goals for the year, including redesigning the site to match the organization’s vibrancy and branding efforts, promoting and archiving Creative Campus events and projects, and bringing the site to Web 2.0 standards. Pribanic-Smith said she has learned that as with any art, some people would like what she produced while others would not. Accepting that fact made her more comfortable with taking risks.

Graduate assistant Jennifer Russell was hired to conduct research, but her role expanded to include coordinating the Critics’ Pick program and planning the culminating event, the ALs Awards (see photo at left). Among the practical skills Russell developed as a result of this experience were organization, communication, and problem-solving, but she said she also learned how to adapt to changing roles and be flexible.

Maegan Slaten, graduate assistant, focused her attention this year on two tasks: overseeing the Student Organization and recruiting musicians to perform in the weekly Fountain Music event at the Ferguson Center. Slaten learned how to effectively use email and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook as communication tools to achieve her goals. She said that she also came away with several skills that will aid her in her future career as a teacher.