Joe Creta ’19 loves the variety his summer internship provides. Creta, a junior marketing major at Thomas College, is working at Integrated Media Group in Johnston, Rhode Island this summer.
“Just last week I wrote a newsletter for a gun shop, and then yesterday I worked on social media content for an animal shelter,” he said. “I am gaining experience and will be prepared to work with companies all over the spectrum. Not to mention, I have worked with companies ranging from small businesses to multi-million dollar corporations.”
As the receipt of the 2017 New England Direct Marketing Management Association Scholarship, Creta received a $3,000 scholarship towards tuition, attendance to a student marketing conference, as well as a paid internship in the direct marketing field.
Integrated Media Group is a digital marketing firm that also publishes two monthly magazines: Rhode Island Small Business Journal and RI Fit Magazine.
Creta, of Cranston, Rhode Island, has been developing and scheduling social media posts for clients, creating content for email campaigns and newsletters, updating websites using WordPress, and creating blogs and press releases.
So far, he loves his internship.
“I like the team aspect of the office I work in. The other two interns and I work collaboratively with Marketing Coordinators to work on client accounts,” said Creta.
“I love writing, and at Integrated Marketing Group I write every day. I write blogs, newsletters, and social media content that require me to research information.”
Creta, 20, said his short time at Thomas has already prepared him for this internship significantly.
“My Thomas professors stressed the use of Excel in the business world and they were right. I use Excel every day and luckily I learned to be proficient in Excel at Thomas,” he said.
“Also, writing is a huge aspect of my internship and my Thomas professors stress the ability to write well. Specifically, my marketing professor and advisor, Dr. Saucier, stressed that no matter what job you have, you must be able to communicate your message effectively through writing,” he said. “I am so glad that he was so adamant about proper grammar and word usage, because it has allowed me to impress my clients with my writing skills.”
Creta said his composition professor, Dog Wallace, also prepared him by teaching different grammatical elements and sentence structures to craft the newsletters and blogs to sound as professional as possible.
“Thomas College has small classes and therefore the professors are able to work closely with every student. That personal touch helped me prepare me for my internship,” said Creta. “At Thomas, you cannot be late to or miss class without your professor taking notice and discussing it with you. Because of this, I am the first person at my office every day, even before the two co-founders, and I have never missed a day.”