My Internship | by Cameron Hall

My internship at the Wichita State University’s Center for Community Support and Research (CCSR) has been invaluable. As a marketing major, I have learned that some aspects of nonprofit marketing are different from traditional marketing. I developed and implemented our social media for CCSR’s 30^th anniversary. In addition, I also discovered some challenges to being part of the University system.

Wu and Cameron

I participate on an anniversary open house planning committee and everyone was happy with our media coverage. I coordinated advertising on the campus TV circuit. At first it was a challenge to find the people I needed to communicate with, but as time progressed I become more confident and was able to meet my goals. Our social media campaign had just as big an effect as the other options we considered. The numbers of “likes” to our Facebook posts and pages have definitely increased.

My ability to stay organized has improved drastically. There were always four or five things that I could be working on at any given time. My intern supervisor, Angela Gaughan, helped keep me on track and I was able to develop an efficient routine. Everyone at the CCSR was very helpful and willing to fit me into their schedule. For example, when I interview Operations Coordinator, Candy Youle, she set up a time the day after I asked to meet with her. Seeing everyone at the CCSR balance such packed schedules has been motivational. I get more done in a day now than I did when I began my internship.

The one thing that stuck out the most to me during this internship was how little recognition CCSR gets. I learned about their specific target audiences; coalitions, nonprofits, communities, and other organizations that benefit from CCSR’s work. Outside of these, not very many people know or understand how great the center is for their communities. More people are becoming aware of CCSR’s influence both in and outside of their target audiences. Hopefully this trend will continue, because CCSR has a huge impact on the state of Kansas. I’ve enjoyed being a part of the efforts.