Most Civitas internships are related to politics, but Mrs. Reed was able to find me one in the field of my dreams: graphic design.

I had to interview with Brian Merica, CEO of Unearth Campaigns, and I was super nervous. The company is an advertising agency that works with nonprofits and political campaigns, as well as other businesses.

The interview went well; we talked about what the job would entail, what things I wanted to learn, and what my schedule would look like. They offered me the internship at the end of the interview and I was so excited that I would be spending part of my summer working among professionals in a legitimate office environment.

Once the summer began I worked 2 days a week, on Monday and Tuesday from 9-5. I got my own computer and would check my emails in the morning for projects or updates.

On Mondays, we had a staff meeting to go over all of the projects that we were working on at that time. Within the projects, there were many different things that I worked on from researching people on Facebook to producing PowerPoint presentations for clients.

One of my favorite projects was where I did research on the sentiment of a client and took screenshot examples of comments from Facebook and Twitter. Then, I compiled the research into comprehendible charts showing the overall support or disapproval of the specific client. That was my biggest project at my internship because the slide show was used in other people’s writing or emails.

I was honored that professionals in their field trusted a teenager to read and give suggestions on their writing.

Another aspect of my internship was learning the computer programs and social media skills needed at a digital marketing company.

One day I learned the “backside of Facebook” where all of the ads and campaigns come together. First you start with the budget and timeline of the project and eventually finish with the actual graphic of the ad itself.

The skills I learned at my internship were not only about digital marketing campaigns, but how to work in a team and give and get constructive criticism. I collaborated with others and worked on projects in groups.

One of these groups was called the “Atlas Team”: we generated lists of people that we would then put into the Facebook ad manager. Instead of selecting a group or category of people, some projects needed exact lists of specific people.

For political issues, we often had to create lists of legislators and lobbyists that would be essential for the clients to influence.

Research is something that I didn’t know that I would like but actually enjoyed once I became familiar with it. Overall, my experience was very positive and a strong learning experience for my career interests.