Busy is an understatement for how my week was. I haven’t just been busy. I’ve been swamped — overloaded in press releases, proofing, and preparations for tomorrow’s Olympic Day celebrations. The week is mainly one blur and the weekends a time to relax and really explore all Indianapolis has to offer.
This weekend is the rhythmic gymnastics national qualifier, which is the final competition for the U.S.’s rhythmic gymnasts to qualify to the USA Gymnastics Championships in Louisville in mid-July. To prep for that, I wrote three releases — the field of competitors release to say who all was competing, a skeleton for the halfway point in the competition and the results release to say who qualified to nationals. With the field of competitors, I learned a very cool trick in Excel that automatically formats the competitors information into the style we use in the releases (Elizabeth Grimsley, Decatur, Ga./Atlanta Gymnastics Center), so inputting 126 competitors was a breeze.
Now that I think about it, this week was all about rhythmic, trampoline and tumbling and Olympic day. I also wrote releases on the recent international success some of the rhythmic national team members have had, the T&T scholarships that were announced at the Elite Challenge and a preview for Olympic Day as well as a skeleton to use after the new cartwheel world record is set if everything goes well. I also wrote up a short release on the Gymnastics For All nationals that are happening this weekend in Orlando, Fla. If I can’t call myself an expert at writing press releases by the end of this summer, something will have gone terribly wrong. I am still trying to get used to the “no fluff” approach.
Of course, with an internship comes typical intern duties such as fact-checking the FIG archives to make sure the former and current U.S. representative’s information is correct as well as more scanning of pictures and sitting in on meetings. There’s also been a lot of proofing, which I actually enjoy. Call me crazy.
It hasn’t all been releases and busy work though. I got to think of a hashtag for Olympic Day and might even get to Storify the World Record attempt from the office tomorrow. Storify is something my boss has never used or even heard of, so I’m excited to show her how cool and effective it is.
On Thursday, I got out of the office for lunch with two of the girls in the office. One of them works with Steve Penny and the other works in the women’s program. She’s basically the Hagrid of the office — the keeper of keys/secrets with the women’s program. I enjoyed hearing about what some of the other jobs are like there and not just those in the communications department. I also though it was funny that they thought it was so hot and humid outside when it was only in the mid-80s. Normally I’m the one saying how hot it is, but this is nothing compared to Georgia. The fact that it can rain at any moment is more like home though. I swear it can be sunny one moment and then downpour the next. It did cause some amazing sunsets though.
That’s pretty much been it so far. On tap is a feature (yay journalism!) I’m doing on Youth Olympic Games qualifier Laura Zeng as well as some more work with the International Triathlon Union and their 25th anniversary project. As always, check out my personal account of the last week, including my time at the NCAA Hall of Champions, visit to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Eiteljorg Museum and the Indianapolis Indians baseball game from last Sunday.
Internships 