TIP Spotlight: Megan Clark A14

Throughout the summer, we will be featuring the stories of current Tufts students. If you are interested in sharing your own internship experience with Tufts students, please consider participating in the annual TIP book. The TIP book is a collection of internship descriptions and advice provided by Tufts students for Tufts students. Click here to share information about your internship experience by August 1, 2012 and enter to win an iPad.*

Name: Megan Clark
Class Year: 2014
Majors: History and English
Hometown: Acton, MA
Internship Organization: The Fairbanks House Historical Site, operated by The Fairbanks Family in America, Inc., Dedham, MA
Internship title: Curatorial Intern

1. Describe your internship organization. 
The Fairbanks House is the oldest surviving timber-frame house in North America and is operated by the Fairbanks Family in America, Inc., which has cared for the house since 1902. The Fairbanks House is open to the public May through October and allows people to experience 17th through 19th century history. The Fairbanks Family in America, Inc. also collects and preserves documents and artifacts relating to the Fairbanks family and the Fairbanks House and places them within a wider historical context.  

2. Describe your internship responsibilities.
This summer, I have been responsible for two major projects focused on educational programming and archival management. Every third grader in Dedham visits the Fairbanks House but, until recently, the Fairbanks House did not have an official tour designed specifically for students. I researched the Massachusetts third grade curriculum and designed a tour that better connects to aspects of that curriculum and engages the students by asking them more questions. I then designed a training PowerPoint, which the Fairbanks House curator will administer next fall, in order to teach the tour guides, or docents, how to lead tours for students. I also created a packet of recommendations for conducting mixed-generational tours in order to help the docents engage visitors of many different age levels. I am currently working in the Fairbanks House archives and am assisting the curator, Meaghan Siekman, to create a new organizational system. We are also researching the context of previously unidentified or unexplained documents and photographs. In addition to these projects, I lead both normal and school group tours of the Fairbanks House at least one day a week and conduct research in order to add to our knowledge about the Fairbanks House, the Fairbanks family, and Dedham history from the 17th through the 19th century.

3. What led you to pursue type of work?
I think explaining history, at its best, is like telling a story. I have always loved history and have wanted to share that love with others. I also enjoy tutoring; I tutored all subjects in the Academic Support Room at my high school and tutored fourth graders in writing last summer. I get so excited when I see a student finally understand a concept, make a connection, or grow to enjoy a topic that they previously disliked. After I graduate, I would like to find a job in which I can share my excitement for learning, especially historical learning, with others. I have considered teaching but I also wanted to explore a less traditional educational career. I looked for internships at museums or historic houses because I believed these internships would allow me to pursue my passion for history and share that passion with others. My internship this summer has both allowed me to share my love of history and conduct research that will enhance the museum experience for future visitors.

4. Describe a highlight of your internship experience thus far?
The highlight of my internship experience thus far has been creating an official tour for third grade school groups because it combined so many of my interests and helped me to develop new and pre-existing skills. First, this project combined my passion for history and education. Secondly, during this project, I became a much more efficient researcher which, in turn, made the research even more fun. I also developed my communication and teaching skills because I had to decide which bits of information to share with students and, then, how to communicate that information to them. I also had to describe the goals of the new tours to the docents and explain how to achieve them. It is very exciting to know that I made significant changes to the way the Fairbanks House will conduct school group tours and to see how the students reacted to the changes that I was able to introduce this summer.

5. Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about your internship experience?
Interning at the Fairbanks House has been a phenomenal experience! I have developed new skills—such as archival management—and strengthened pre-existing ones—such as research efficiency and educational programming design. This internship has led me to seriously consider a career in public history, which would allow me to simultaneously pursue my love for history and education outside of a classroom setting.

*No TIP profiles will be included on this blog without the student's permission.

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A Senior's Farewell

So, I guess it’s that time. Finals are in full-swing. We’re attempting to study, but really we’re trying to make sure we complete our bucket lists and simply enjoy ourselves before we head home. Or graduate, when it comes to us seniors. (Insert sad face here).

I thought I’d write one more blog post before I leave Tufts to say a final goodbye. “Final words” have always intimidated me, and to be honest, I don’t quite have anything particularly profound to say. I’m not sure anything really could be said. I knew senior year would whiz by extremely fast, so I’m not exactly surprised that I’m already planning my final weekends and talking commencement and graduation gowns. But truth be told, I haven’t yet been overwhelmed by the apocalyptic feeling that my carefree youth is ending. Maybe it just hasn’t hit me yet and I’ll be a bawling, inconsolable mess in no time. Or maybe there’s a part of me that’s ready to move on----to explore new cities, work on real-world projects, and be refreshingly anonymous for a change.

Of course, when people ask how I feel about graduating (a.k.a. absolutely everyone), I can’t exactly answer them in a direct, sensible fashion. My answer always transforms into some senseless garble filled with ehhhs and sortas, leading my questioners to reply with vigorous affirmations about how I’m just gonna love the career world. Sure, I have visions of myself reveling in the delights of “real-life” ( largely thanks to Sex and the City), but I’m aware that it’s not one big cocktail party. When I ask graduates to compare career-life to college (praying they’ll say it’s just plain awesome), I get the same answer: it’s not better or worse, but different. No more sleeping away your 9:00 am class or showing up to your 10:30 in sweats. No more 2-hour lunches and long gaps of free time. At the same point, there’s no traditional “homework” (aside from leftover work) and weekends are blissfully free. And there’s the gratification of working toward more than a passing grade; your contributions make a real impact.

I’m lucky enough to have some sense of what life will look like next year. I’ll be working at a public affairs firm in NYC, hopefully living in a cozy apartment with a roommate from high-school. If things go according to plan, I’ll hopefully have a nice circle of friends, a decent relationship with my landlord, and some sense of how to navigate NYC subways. But even with some sort of “plan”, things still look fuzzy. I can’t picture what my life will be like until I’m in it full-swing, and even then I’ll probably be too overwhelmed by the newness of it all to fully reconcile it.

Come the sad notes of graduation music, chances are it will hit me, big time, and I’ll probably be a big huge mess when it does. Even now part of me feels obliged to run up to underclassman and beg them to appreciate it. (Preliminary words of advice: sleep late, steal all the food you can from Dewick, and snag the biggest off-campus room you can find). But given all the emotion and the trauma, we will inevitably find our niche and adjust. Even if right now the thought of becoming a real-person feels hilariously impossible. Someone once reassured me that once we get used to the fact that we’ve graduated, the real-world feels natural and plain right, as if this is what we’re “supposed” to be doing. The advice was vague, but I remember it feeling refreshing at the time, and I thought I’d pass it along.

In all my on-and-off-again panic, the most important advice I have is to be honest with yourself. We’ve had four years to explore and discover our skills and interests and goals, and now it’s time to go after them. We’re too good to abandon our idealist college ambitions simply because it comes with a challenging road. In the same vein, don’t expect it to be easy. There will be stresses and frustrations that are totally new to us, and we should be prepared to take them in stride. These are the moments that we’ll be laughing about some years down the line, when everything finally starts to make some sense.

And it will happen. I’ve had many friends promise that college wasn’t the best four years of their life, but that (gasp) it keeps getting better from here. So, fellow seniors/soon-to-be alums: let’s assume that we’re at the beginning of something great.

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How to Land a Media Job: My Takeaways

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend “How to Land a Media Job: Tips for Seniors,” a media panel co-sponsored by Tufts Career Services and the Communications & Media Studies Department. The event featured five panelists, who represented five different media professions: children’s production, advertising, film production, local reporting, and public radio. For those who didn’t attend, I thought I’d share a brief overview the event, the who’s who in the panel, and what I gathered about the state of modern media.

Before I go on, let me introduce the five panelists. They were friendly and personable, combining the serious stuff with colorful anecdotes. And they were honest, unafraid to tell us, point-blank, who they would hire and what it takes to get in the door.

Carol Greenwald: Senior Executive Producer of Children’s Programs at Boston’s WGBH. She manages the production of popular kid’s shows like Arthur and Curious George. (Who doesn’t love Arthur?)

John Davidow: The Executive Editor of New Media at WBUR Radio (and a proud Tufts alum). He oversees the content of WBUR’s hip new website.

Molly Crean: A Junior Recruiter and Internship Coordinator at Arnold Worldwide, responsible for recruiting new and creative talent to the ad-world.
Richard Lodge: Editor-in-Chief of GateHouse Media West and Metro Units, a daily newspaper that covers local community news.

Evan Mark Rimer: Assistant to the President at Anschutz Film Group, a subsidiary of Walden Media. Evan recruits new film projects and oversees film development.

At first, I figured this would be yet another helpful albeit depressing panel about the hopelessness of media. This would be temporarily confirmed by a comical film clip, featuring two cartoon characters discussing journalism. “I want to work for the New York Times,” the first cartoon robotically said. “You will not work for the NY Times,” retorted its pessimistic counterpart. “You will report insignificant stories and get laid off and move to the middle of Kansas”. (Okay, totally not the real dialogue, but you get the jist.)

The ominous mood was set. But as the event went on, and as each panelist opened up about his or her colorful media jobs, we all relaxed. What I took away instead was a much more complicated view of the industry. Media is struggling, yes, but it’s also rapidly transforming, now more than ever looking to recruit new talent.

So, the question we all want to know: what does it take to land a media job? The panelists first emphasized the importance of relevant internship and work experience. Prior experience shows that you are capable of handling professional media tasks and can thrive in fast-paced work culture. Interestingly enough, Carol also stressed prior employment, whether at your local supermarket or DQ. As she put it bluntly, employers like seeing that you know what it means to have a job.

In the vein of digitalization, the panelists—Richard particularly—said they love those with a versatile skill set. They are always eager to fill, “what’s not there”. So if you have a penchant for say, photography or slide-show making, or perhaps HTML coding, make this clear! Even if you aren’t too comfortable with digital tools, there’s still plenty of time to learn. Also, it’s always a plus to be familiar with social media and online news sites. Yes, they’re ultra-experienced, but these media veterans want to learn too. As Richard said, “I want you to teach me something new.”

The employers also touted writing as the most important skill for media success. Even more than your GPA, your clips prove that you have knack for clearly and concisely relaying information. So what to do now? Write, write, write. Publish news stories. Blog (even if it’s about your love life). Tweet. Force your friends to follow you. As these panelists stressed, we should do all what we can to cultivate our writing voice and just publicize ourselves. And it’s good practice while we work towards the days when we’ll see our byline in some glossy magazine.

Of course, the panel couldn’t end without discussing the all-too-important networking process. Each panelist encouraged us to cultivate as many connections as possible—particularly key for breaking into media, which essentially thrives on networking. In this block of time before the actual job-applying season (most media jobs have a 2-3 week turnaround period) the best thing we can do is establish a large web of contacts, which we should continue to build and build. The larger our networking pool, the higher the likelihood of being nudged toward a job.

But say you don’t have a readily accessible pool of media contacts to schmooze with. The reporter attendees, particular Richard, encouraged the die-hard journalists to try cold-calling newsroom. Isn’t that what journalism is about, anyway? Of course, it’s important to do your research—to know who exactly you’re speaking with and to plan a smart, well-planned pitch. You never know where just one phone call could lead.

The final take-away - for me at least? If you love everything media, just go for it. The panelists were honest about some of the less-than-promising trends. But beyond this, they conveyed a rare passion for their current careers and a staunch dedication to exploring its exciting future. It’s this love for communicating information—the writing, the reading, the filming, the reporting—that makes these challenges and budget-cuts well-worth it. As proud members of this next online-savvy generation, we’re the ones media is depending on.

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Part 2: Summer Internship Reflections

This is the second part in my account of my summer internship. If you haven't already, read part 1.

There’s no question: I absolutely loved my time at Curtis Brown. Along with teaching me so much about the book industry, it reaffirmed that yes, this is what I want to do. While working on direct behalf of the author, joining them in this exhilarating process from beginning-to-end, agents forge truly intimate connections with author clients. I remember listening, squeezed into my office desk, to my boss engage in catch-ups and discuss wedding plans with her slew of client-turned-best-friends. By getting to so intimately know the author’s work—stubbornly pushing them toward maximizing their creative potential—you can’t help but personally connect to the creative forces behind the on-paper talent. I absolutely loved it. The entire industry just seemed so refreshingly personal

But, gnawing at me underneath my excitement is the reality that the publishing industry is transforming, entering into an unexplored terrain that it has yet to wrap its hands around. With the introduction of new digital outlets, the industry is temporarily struggling to reconcile its shifting role in today’s technology-centered society. E-books and new digital options have encouraged the determined-to-be-published to self-publish online, a process that entirely eliminates the traditional clout held by agent and publisher. And then there’s the tiny fact that, as so many speculate, online forums like e-book kindle could make hard-copy books an antique of the past. As the industry is struggling to locate an identifiable niche in our digitally minded society, entry-level jobs are become harder and harder to come by.

But even despite the slightly unnerving tabloids, and what I’ve personally gathered about the industry’s slippery state, I realized that this industry just makes me happy. No it’s future direction isn’t totally clear, and the initial pay isn’t great, but regardless of all these obstacles, this transforming field just happens to perfectly resonate with my long-held interests. And there’s also something exhilarating about joining an industry at the peak of a remarkable transition, when the future of publishing—and book reading—is embarking on a never-before-seen path.

I think this is an important message across any field. In the wake of today’s work climate, where job insecurity and layoffs are a frightening norm, certain industries feel a bit more daunting than others. But at the end of the day, the tangible rewards pale in comparison to the satisfaction that swells up inside you when you’re doing something you love. Sure, internship and job snatching have become trickier in recent years, but with a good dose of resilience, optimism, and yes, patience, you can meaningfully contribute to the field of your choice, even if you have to wait a bit longer to get there. So, I’ll end with this: once you find a career path that excites you, one that feels stimulating and just plain right, push away any lingering doubts and go for it. Once you get in the door, I’m confident you won’t look back.

So now, that I’ve told you my own internship-saga, come and hear about other summer experiences told through the lens of your very own Tufts peers. Today, Tuesday, September 27, from 4:30 to 6:00pm in Dowling Library, Summer 2011 internship grant recipients will recount their experiences and offer you their now-expert insight on the field. I hope to see you there!

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Part 1: My Summer Internship at Curtis Brown

Now that we’re back on campus, I’m sure we’re clued-in to our friends’ various summer adventures. Many of us dedicated time to summer internships, experiencing the 9-5 work-day far different from our all-over-the-place college lives. Me? From a walk-up East village apartment I leased in New York City, I woke to my 8 a.m. alarm, dressed in my business-casual wardrobe, and walked the five blocks over to the offices of Curtis Brown Ltd, the professional literary agency where I spent the duration of my summer.

I had some basic knowledge of what literary agents do, but it took really being there to understand the roles and responsibilities that “agenting”, as my co-workers affectionately call it, truly entails. Their main job is to “sell” that brilliant author manuscript to a publishing house editor. The agents of the firm directly represent aspiring authors; as experts on publishing lingo and the business of the industry, they protect their rights throughout the acquisition, editorial, and production process.

This isn’t to say that a business-savvy agent isn’t a key figure in the editorial process. Agents, well their interns really, in tons of forwarded-emails, receive at least 20 queries a day, consisting of the story proposal and the first 10 pages of their creation. If an agent is drawn in, he/she requests a larger portion of the manuscript and then the full. From here, he/she decides whether to represent the author’s work.

This, in large part, was my job. Each day I’d parse through queries detailing supernatural monsters at battle, goosebump-inducing ghost stories, Judy-Bloom-esque relationship sagas, and zillions of paranormal-romance-thrillers. And I learned that anyone and everyone wants to be a writer. The eager-to-be published were prior financiers, teachers, accountants, and doctors. My bossed received manuscripts from third-cousins and babysitter’s-daughter’s-neighbors that she didn’t even know existed. What flabbergasted me the most when I gawked at my filled-to-the-brim inbox wasn’t how many people wanted to be writers, but how many people actually sat down and did it.

At first, I sometimes found it challenging to separate my personal opinions from what I felt was objectively “marketable.” It was super tempting to think about what would, logistically speaking, end up on an editor’s table, or what would resonate most with trend-following crowds. But I soon realized that today’s “niche” genre was hardly a measure to go by. In fact, I would hear my boss remind her clients not to write to today’s fad genres, so as not to compromise their personal creative inclinations. Considering their thickening overload in the market, my boss was often hesitant to consider paranormal-romance novels for her list (which could be a good sign for us all).

My first-day on the job, I was immediately sent to “work” on a new young adult manuscript Pastureland, a story about talking horses living in a post-apocalyptic world. At some point between the horse-to-horse romance and climatic war-scene, the clock struck five, and my work for the day was over. I remember giddily thinking to myself on my way out the door: so this is work?

After the first day, predictably, my work schedule became a bit more occupied. As a literary agent’s sole assistant, I found myself responsible for anything and everything that cropped up in her busy work day. My main task was to write editorial letters to clients and lay out my criticisms: lapses in plot/character development, opportunities for layering and depth, and suggestions for strengthening and revising. This of course is highly subjective; there’s always the fear that what an agent feels hinders the story (or what their intern feels), could be the very factor that reels a publisher in. But throughout the summer, I learned to stop questioning myself and trust my literary-inclined gut. And nothing felt better than seeing the agent forward on my responses to talented authors and having them, gasp, actually agree with my suggestions.

Along with catalyzing the editorial process, the busy agent also must “sell” an author’s work once it’s perfected and ready-to-go. Another task involved crafting compelling, catchy submission letters to editors, in part resembling the teaser description you’d find on a book’s back cover.

And then there’s the rejection letters. Although significantly shorter, finding the least-painful way to reject someone’s heart-felt work was extremely difficult. As a writer myself, so personally invested in my own work, I couldn’t help but feel I was crushing dreams on the other side of the creative process. But what made it well worth it were the successful author clients, the ones who managed to claw through the slush piles, impress a picky panel of editors, and thrust their undiscovered gems into the public light. And the feeling of telling an author that his/her story has been loved by a big-name publishing house, and was en-route to being published? Pretty fantastic.

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