Internship reflection

Hi everyone.

This is my last blog and as I put the finishing touches on my report I am able to reflect on my time spent at Kanyana.

My internship has not been without its ups and downs. When I first started, I was given the opportunity to plan the official opening for the new Kanyana centre which was planned for November after the move had been completed. However a lack of volunteers and other unforeseen circumstances delayed the move and therefore the opening. To my disappointment the official opening has now been moved to March 2010. Being given the opportunity to plan the official opening of the new centre was one of the reasons I agreed to take the position at Kanyana. Not only would it have looked great on my resume, it would have also provided me with many challenges I have not yet encountered in public relations. Needless to say my internship started off rather disappointingly. However I was able to prepare a few things in anticipation for the opening, for example media releases, fact sheets and backgrounders. I also put together a target media list as Kanyana did not have one on hand.

As Kanyana does not have a public relations team in place and all public relations efforts are looked after by the office administrator, there were a few basic items Kanyana did not have. I was able to produce templates for their media releases and fact sheets, construct a target media list and assist in the production of their newsletter. Doing these exercises meant I was refreshed on some of the things learnt when I stared university three years. In doing so I felt a sense of accomplishment as I was able to implement some new public relations techniques at Kanyana and build on their existing public relations efforts.

By no means do I feel my presence at Kanyana was not needed or unappreciated. On many occasions I was asked to produce a media release when an unusual circumstance occurred. For example Kanyana's education team along, with some of the animals, were flown over to Merredin to visit a primary school for an education visit. A media release was sent to the local newspaper and was published that weekend. Because Kanyana does not usually have someone with the time to write about such situations, they were happy to pass these on to me and were therefore able to received some extra publicity.

I do however have one complaint in my choice of place for internship. As I am already a volunteer at Kanyana I feel this was a hindrance on my ability to learn new things and missed out on the opportunity to see how other organisations use public relations. Because my supervisor was already aware of my capabilities, I found I was left to my own devices a little to often with little encouragement and did not face many new challenges. If the opening at the new centre had not been pushed back things may have been different.

The good news is I plan to continue volunteering at Kanyana and will therefore get to continue my efforts for the official opening.

Ria