It has been 10 years since a student from Oklahoma Christian University was chosen for one of the state’s most competitive public relations internships. This fall, that changed.
Amanda Barnett, a junior public relations and social media major at Oklahoma Christian, was selected for an internship at Schnake Turnbo Frank, a public relations firm with offices in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
Barnett describes the variety of work she tackles at Schnake Turnbo Frank:
“They do a lot of public relations and crisis communication and reputation management, and that’s about half of the work they do. And then the other half is leadership training, executive search, and coaching,” Barnett said.
She adds she is gaining experience by working closely with a variety of people throughout the firm.
“I love getting to work on different projects with everybody, because I have like one boss, Catherine, everybody has been my boss, like even the partners, the CEO, everybody has been my boss at some point and has given me some project,” Barnett said.
Her days vary widely, giving her hands-on experience in many aspects of the firm.
“Today I was doing a lot of work in spreadsheets,” Barnett said. “Two weeks ago, I was helping manage an entire event that we were doing, it’s a lot of different work we have to do.”
Barnett emphasizes how Oklahoma Christian has helped her achieve this milestone in her career. She highlights the impact of her college experience as a key factor in standing out to potential employers.
“I stood out to them because I had all of this experience, and I haven’t even graduated college yet. I am really grateful for Eagle PR,” Barnett said.
Joshua Watson, associate professor of communications and Eagle PR advisor, emphasizes the difficulty of landing the internship Barnett acquired.
“This is a pretty difficult internship to land, just because it is a very top PR firm in downtown Oklahoma City,” Watson said. “I’ve only had one OC student apply and that’s quite a few years ago, and that was when they first opened.”
Watson explains how Barnett gets the opportunity to work with very impressive people.
“She is working with the current Public Relations Society of America president, Catherine Davis,” Watson said
Watson praised Barnett for her academic achievements.
“She had done some journalistic writing online through her dual degree program, where she was getting a high school degree and an associates at the same time,” Watson said. “She does things at a much higher level than her peers.”
Watson also highlights Barnett’s independence.
“Barnett didn’t even ask me to help her get the internship or put in a good word for her,” Watson said. “She did it all on her own.”
Watson highlights the value of gaining experience beyond the classroom.
“In Eagle PR we try to take things from the classroom, apply them outside of the classroom, but on campus, and then build up a resume in a portfolio,” Watson said. “If you go to an interview at a place like Schnake Turnbo Frank, they go,” Oh wow you have a lot of experience that plenty of students don’t.”
Barnett’s internship serves as a significant milestone for Eagle PR. Her achievement reflects the program’s role in helping students gain experience for competitive opportunities.
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