Internship

I did my internship during the Spring semester of my senior year. I chose to do my internship with the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce where I worked as a Marketing and Event Planning intern. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and all of the skills I learned. I worked alongside a great team of motivating and driven people who offered me guidance, entrustment, and mentorship through the entire process. My main responsibilities were in helping build a Lake Martin tourism website and being an integral role in the planning and execution of all of the events we hosted. 

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The Lake Martin tourism website was a great experience to be a part of. My role was to research shopping and culture, places to stay, dining, and activities, among many others. Through this I was given the opportunity to learn a lot about the area I was working in and their businesses. I truly grew to love the area and the people who live there. The websites intention is to bring more tourism to the area and make people aware of the possibilities the lake and surrounding towns offer. Coming into this internship I thought of Alexander City as small town Alabama, which it is. But it is way more than that. The people here are so kind, motivated, and helpful. It is a very tight-knit community of people who want to see one another succeed and are willing to assist  them in getting there. I look forward to how greatly it impacts those visiting the area. I believe the website serves as a great resource in sharing with its visitors what to do, where to eat, where to shop, where to stay, and how to travel around the area. These are just a few things the website will offer, but I believe it will prove to be a great revenue source and information resource for not only visitors but locals as well. It’s so easy to get caught up in our daily routines, especially when living in a smaller community, that we often forget what’s right in our backyard. Even those who have lived in Alexander City their entire lives could greatly benefit from being reminded just how wonderful this community is. Alexander City has been putting innovation and expansion at the forefront of their goals. I think it’s really important to relay this information to the community so they see the improvements the city is making and how they can benefit and enjoy these improvements. 

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Right off the bat I got to help in coordination of my first major event- The Annual Meeting for Alexander City. This event had nearly 400 attendees and required many hours of planning to ensure a seamless event. This was a start to my internship. There were many other events I was able to help with including the Polar Plunge and Lead Forward Women’s Luncheon. I acquired many new skills during the internship mostly centered around event planning. Prior to this internship I have never taken a course in event planning and didn’t have much experience outside the classroom as well. I learned the process of planning an event from beginning to end, such as working with vendors, venues, and attendees all while maintaining a budget.