In early July, we had the opportunity to sit down with former Florida State University student, Molly Wexler, to discuss her experience within the EWM program, past internships, and plans for the future. Wexler, a Spring 2020 graduate, was eager to share her stories and advice.
Intern: Good morning! Who was your internship with?
Wexler: Officially, my internship was publishing short, informative articles and profiles for Florida State’s English Department website. I mainly had the beat of profiles regarding alumni/faculty achievements as well as department events for the FSU community of the website. It was fully under the direction of Dr. Hand, but we worked directly with Professor Jack Clifford. We mainly worked on articles that would be published on the website.
Intern: That’s awesome. How did you find this opportunity?
Wexler: I found this internship by already knowing Professor Clifford through past involvements. I kind of got lucky that way because I was never successful in finding opportunities on Handshake. I was also limited to campus for my internship so I was looking for specific internships. Finding this internship was mainly due to my prior relationship with Professor Clifford and him already having seen my goals and writing style. Sadly, I did not take advantage of the amazing internship sites that FSU uses. I found this internship through word-of-mouth and talking to people, which isn’t something everyone can do.
Intern: What objectives or expectations did you have going into the internship?
Wexler: I knew it was going to be a little bit of work because I found as we went into it that we were responsible for every step of the journalistic process including pitching, interviewing, writing, and editing. Professor Clifford was certainly there to be a resource and help us, but we were responsible for everything, which is how it should be. It gave me a really good insight into how I would work as a journalist. It’s not just about writing the final product - it’s everything from the interview to the transcribing to the editing. I expected that it would be quite a bit of work and I found out that I would have to be a lot more self motivated than I first thought. I very much had to be on top of my work and set my own deadlines, something that was very new for me.
Intern: What was your internship experience like?
Wexler: I had previously worked with Professor Clifford for Society of Collegiate Journalists, and, other than being one of my favorite teachers, he was such a resource before the internship even started. He was my internship supervisor which meant he read and edited all of my work, so it was great to enter the internship with someone I had a somewhat working relationship with. Halfway through the semester, we transitioned to remote learning and it became so much harder to get in touch with faculty and alumni. One person, I was trying to interview before the semester ended completely dropped the ball and stopped responding to me. Luckily, Dr. Hand and Professor Clifford were understanding and helped as much as they could.
Intern: Did you feel prepared going into your internship?
Wexler: Oh, definitely. One class that definitely helped me feel prepared for the internship was Editing Workshop with Dyan Neary. In that class, we were required to write a long-form journalism piece about any topic we wanted with the goal of getting it published. I chose prison healthcare and am currently reaching out to magazines to try and get it published. It ended up being a really amazing experience because it gave me a lot of interview experience you’re writing, editing, and learning about every piece of becoming a journalist. I would highly recommend everyone take that class before they do an internship.
Intern: What was one thing you learned from your experience, especially moving into the future?
Wexler: I found that, even though I did procrastinate, I always met my deadlines, and I am very good at working under pressure. I found that I could turn it into good work in a short amount of time because it was very difficult managing my time at some points and it is with really any extracurricular activities. This internship helped me learn more about myself and really trust my instincts when I need to get something done and then how to manage my time better.
Intern: What were some challenges you faced during your internship?
Wexler: One of the challenges that is really hard to control as a writer or editor in any internship is when people rarely get back to you and it’s especially more common now. Sometimes waiting on a response could get really tedious because you have your deadline and they clearly can’t always work on your deadline. That was extremely difficult, and, even worse, it was out of my control. Another challenge I personally came across was time management because it can be really hard to gauge how long transcribing an interview might take. Say, if you need to reach out to people for more information, you can’t count for how long they’re going to take getting back to you and how long it will take to incorporate the new information into your article.
Intern: Do you have any plans after graduation?
Wexler: Well, I’ve done a full 180° since graduation. I’ve been accepted into a medical assistant program at my local community college. I’m really looking forward to this because I kind of took schooling for granted and now I feel really lost. But I’m happy that I got an English degree, and I certainly don’t feel like I turned my back on something I wanted to do. Journalism is still something I am very passionate about, but I realized that I needed to do something that matches this very strange and constantly changing world. So, I decided to first become a medical assistant and depending on how much I like that, I want to go the distance and become a Physician’s Assistant.
Intern: How has the EWM program prepared you for your future?
Wexler: As I said earlier, Dyan Neary’s Editing Workshop class was end-all-be-all fantastic and the internship itself really prepared me for using professional communication. I didn’t realize how much went into professional emails until I had to send emails to alumni and faculty. Another class that helped me was the full editing course ENC 4212. Even though I don't really enjoy editing, it helped with getting my feet wet and understanding copyediting and each individual mark that made copyediting. That class helped me realize that I needed to be a much more careful proofreader. Therefore, everything I’ve learned while being in the EWM program has helped me apply for and find jobs, helped me apply to other college programs and other professional opportunities. More than all of that though, it’s helped me figure out my comfort with writing and find my own writing style.
Intern: What advice do you have for students looking for internships?
Wexler: Definitely make friends with your teachers - they are your best resources. If you're at FSU’s English department, then you certainly have a lot of great people to work with. I know that those job and internship databases, like Handshake and Nole Network, do have great opportunities, but if you want to stay on campus, get to know your professors, show them your work. I’ve not seen anyone not get opportunities for not putting in the work.
Intern: What advice do you have for incoming freshmen and EWM students?
Wexler: For incoming freshmen, I would say don’t take anything too seriously because you’re going to change your major at least 3 times. For new EWM majors, I would say put your education priorities first. If you find that you are really interested in one specific aspect of writing, be sure to fight for getting in all those classes. When I knew that I liked journalism, I wasn’t going to sit by and take only literature courses. If you know what you want to do, go for it, full steam ahead.