Dream Jobs

Not many college seniors can claim they have experienced their dream job before they’ve graduated. Not many can say they’ve lived and worked in three countries during their college career while still taking classes. And not many can say they have worked with foreign diplomats and ambassadors. But senior public relations major Dhara Shah can.

Shah has not only lived in America, but also spent two months living in Mumbai, India, for an internship with public relations firm Porter Novelli where she worked with clients such as Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, she lived in Italy where she served as a public diplomacy intern with the United States Mission to the United Nations Agencies at the Embassy of the United States of America to Italy in Rome.

“This was a very unique and enormous opportunity for me as I have always been interested in government and politics,” she said. “I have Georgia Southern to thank because my experiences there have given me the confidence and the formal training to do well, along with my family and friends who have always supported me.”

Though she has had more than four internships in the public relations and marketing fields, her internship in Rome was a preview of the career Shah dreams of — serving as a public affairs or public diplomacy officer for the U.S. Government.

Her daily tasks included representing the United States in the United Nations to push for policy and reform. She also was in charge of leading two major campaigns demonstrating the United States’ stance on the issue of hunger, agriculture and poverty in relation to World Food Day, which was Oct. 16. Shah worked closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations and the World Food Program of United Nations among others.

“The most interesting thing about this internship was attending high level United Nations meetings — it charmed me each time,” Shah said. “Diplomats and ambassadors from each country take time to voice their opinions and the entire setting is just so powerful and surreal. It’s something I’ve only seen on television before.”

Getting to an internship at this level wasn’t easy, she said. The application and acceptance process took six months to complete and included an application, several interviews and a security clearance process. But despite the lengthy process, Shah is proud of her accomplishment, and proud to have been able to represent the University on an international level.

“I was told that out of thousands of applicants, 10 were short listed and among those, only six made it to Rome,” Shah said. “I feel extra proud when people ask me which school I come from because my other co-interns were graduate students at Harvard, Brigham Young and Yale. It does get overwhelming when you’re surrounded by such intelligence, but I know I am equally compatible and good at what I do, and I have Georgia Southern to thank for that.”

Megan Fannon’s (‘13) internship is a little closer to home. The Atlanta, Ga. native can be found all over social media, working as the assistant to the Atlanta Falcons social media coordinator. Fannon discusses everything about the NFL team with fans at FalconsMegan on Twitter and completes upward of 25 posts per week on the Falcons’ Facebook page.

During Fannon’s internship, which began last July, she has become adept at learning the Falcons’ audience. “I’ve learned what the fan base wants from the team, and the importance of engaging with our fans,” she said. This includes garnering responses from fans by posting interviews and even wishing a happy birthday to players on social media.

“On game days, I assist with the social media hub, post pictures from the game, select photos for the video board and tweet about the Falcons,” she added.

While game day is always exciting, Fannon said that weekdays also offer memorable opportunities. “Every Tuesday, the players participate in community events. One of my favorite events was with the Make a Wish Foundation. One of the children wanted to hang out with a Falcons player for the day and also see what a pilot does. So, I traveled with one of our players to the tarmac at Southwest Air to meet a child. Another time, one of the Make a Wish children spent an entire day visiting the Falcons’ camp in Flowery Branch,” she added.

The sport management major entered Georgia Southern as a student athlete with a track and field scholarship, and later gained experience working with Georgia Southern Athletics in the areas of media relations and social media, which she credits as the key to her successful internship.

Second year graduate student Matthew Holmes recently completed a summer internship at Harvard Medical School studying the effectiveness of practicing Tai Chi and balance control in older adults.

Holmes is pursuing his Dr.P.H. degree in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health and his internship, a T-32 Training grant, is a highly selective award intended to give doctoral students additional exposure to research, as well as the necessary skills to become an independent researcher.

“As a part of this grant I was able to collaborate on a publication, as a first author, with some of the best aging researchers in the world,” said Holmes. During the project, Holmes’ work consisted of research involving balance control and falling in older adults, and the effectiveness of practicing Tai Chi.

“Maintaining balance and preventative falling requires a complex network of biological systems. As people age, the biological systems that help maintain balance slowly decline, which ultimately leads to balance problems and increased risk of falling. However, there has been mounting evidence in the literature demonstrating that Tai Chi practice can improve balance in older adult populations. Tai Chi emphasizes controlled balance, controlled breathing, and mental focus. These components may all play some integral role in improving balance,” he said. – Mary Beth Spence and Crissie Elrick