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Andrew Schnall ’10 (Hillsborough, N.J.), an economics and business major, spent his summer as an intern under the guidance of Jonathan Schecter ’04, a senior account manager with M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment in New York City.This summer, I was fortunate enough to get an internship in New York City with M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment, a public relations firm located in Battery Park. Lafayette alumnus Jonathan Schecter is a senior account manager with the company, and he was generous enough to take me under his wing. Everyone at M&C Saatchi was incredibly nice and helpful, which went a long way toward making the experience a great one.
I am very interested in sports, which is why I applied for the internship. I did not know much about public relations, but I went into it eager to learn. One of the major things that I learned is that networking and creating relationships with the right people is arguably the most important factor of success. While this is true no matter what career one ultimately decides on, it seemed to be especially true for public relations.
One skill that I have improved upon as a result of the internship is communicating in a clear and concise way. One of my tasks was to call numerous television, radio, and print media outlets. At first, I sounded like a bumbling idiot, but after making a few calls I felt more comfortable. By the end of the internship, talking to these people on the phone felt relatively natural. This internship also gave me the simple, yet valuable understanding of what it is like to truly work. The best way to learn is by doing, so having deadlines, commuting on the subway, and working nine to six, five days a week was a fantastic experience.
Along those lines, living in NYC was amazing too. I’m a huge theater fan, so it was awesome to see a few shows. A lot of the shows have a lottery for extremely discounted front-row seats, and I got to see the show In the Heights this way. To put it simply, I was smiling a lot. I lived in an NYU dorm, which is basically a high-rise apartment. It was equipped with a full kitchen, so I could buy groceries and cook my own meals. I did my share of eating out too, which was another perk of living in the city.
This past summer was really great and was definitely my most accomplished summer. While I wouldn’t say that the experience helped narrow my focus so much that I now know exactly how the rest of my life is going to pan out, it did teach me many lessons and gave me experiences that I can use moving forward.