My Advice for Future Sierra Club Interns

My internship with the Sierra Club this summer advanced many of my professional, personal, and intellectual goals, and in the most incredibly dynamic and fulfilling way possible. I learned about a profession that interests me, I cultivated skills and knowledge relevant to the work I hope to do in the future, and I was able to work with issues I care about alongside a group of equally passionate individuals who are actually working in the thick of things to enact change and make progress. I did not realize just how plugged into international, national, statewide, and regional issues the Sierra Club (through its extensive network and coalition partnerships) really is, and I had the privilege of working intimately on campaigns and with people at each of these levels. Weaving through the many different programs (from ones that focus on coal to international trade agreements to land use to super PAC candidate endorsements) is, I noticed, an overarching consciousness that reminded me of the mission at the heart of the Sierra Club that John Muir founded in 1892.

Working with the media team helped me to develop a skillset and understanding of issues and practice inherent in the worlds of environmental policy and nonprofit communications. I learned about how to cooperate with an internal team of communicators to coordinate myriad efforts and maintain consistency in messaging. I learned how to conduct media outreach, pitch stories to reporters via email and phone calls, and gauge interest in blog 18potential stories. I learned about how to monitor certain policy issues, election races, and hits in the news. I practiced building press lists and doing demographic, political, and location-based research. In addition to this, I practiced and enhanced different kinds of writing than the typical academic and journalistic writing I am accustomed to – I worked on blog writing, op-ed writing, and even prescriptive (and, in some cases, critical) writing targeting certain issues, opponents, etc. This holistic approach reminded me of my liberal arts education and gave me the chance to see how such an influential nonprofit organization can operate so successfully and cohesively.

I was most surprised that my supervisors entrusted me with such high-profile work. They gave me a project that I saw through beginning to end, involving a new wind energy advertisement initiative launched by the Sierra Club; my chief supervisor, the National Press Secretary for the Club, had me research key media outlets in certain districts where the ads would be launched; I then put together a reporter/press contact list, drafted a talking points memo based on the new campaign, then actually called the reporters and pitched the story about the initiative directly. It was so fulfilling to correspond with reporters to see some articles written in response to my pitch.

After a few test-runs, they gave me big blog pieces to write about endorsed candidates, trusted me to research daily updates on key midterm election races and send reports to the whole political/lobbying/media team, ghostwrite first drafts of articles for campaign directors and chapter leaders, and interact with Sierra Club press secretaries across the country. They sent me to EPA hearings to provide live updates and photos, to hear the President speak when the Sierra Club was invited to one of his speeches, and to various blog 17events around Washington. They always wanted to be sure that I was having the experience and doing the work I wanted to do – they assured this in weekly check-ins. The most fulfilling (and unexpected) moment came during my exit interview, when my supervisors told me that I was going to be missed and that my work really assisted them this summer.

I had the best summer of my life in DC, and leaving in August was incredibly difficult – I almost wanted to start my professional life immediately! My advice to any Sierra Club media intern is to go for everything wholeheartedly; this internship was a dream come true for me, in that in gave me exposure to and real-world applicable skills for a field that interests me, allowed me to work on issues I’m passionate about, and helped me to begin forming an incredible network in a city and industry I can see myself entering post-college. Every intern should jump at the chance to work on any projects that the media team offers, propose new ideas he/she is interested in, constantly ask for feedback, and propose assisting in any capacity needed – simply providing support to various members of the media team proved to be incredibly enriching and eye-opening to the realities of work in this sector. Be open, be engaged, be inquisitive, be thorough, and do not be afraid to be passionate! Giving 110% every day may be exhausting, but I believe doing so paid major dividends, and I would do it all over again if given the chance.

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