A most popular and well-known YMCA exists in that area around the humble town of Northbrook, Ill., 66 miles away from the campus of Olivet Nazarene University, had an internship for Communication Students looking to do work for video and audio editing on their recorded events. One such student of ONU was willing to travel 60 miles nearly every day during the summer to work at the North Suburban YMCA and get his work hours. His name is Jordan Konieczny, a senior majoring in Multimedia Communication with a concentration in TV/Video, and this is his experience and review interning.
“Dr. McLaughlin helped me find sites to look for internship but [I] sought out after for it on my own.” – Jordan Konieczny
THE JOURNEY TO SECURE AN INTERNSHIP
In the summer of 2023, Jordan Konieczny scoured the internet on countless websites to find internship possibilities; an internship would be needed for him to graduate, such is the standard for all students at Olivet. All local internships were already taken up, but distance didn’t matter for Jordan, and going 60 miles away from home didn’t seem to be a problem for him when he finally uncovered a position at North Suburban YMCA. Help was wanted, and internships were unleashed every summer every year, and Jordan snatched that opportunity and quickly (if a month counts as quickly) got employed after a few brief exchanges through the internet, a phone call, and a short interview. The internship was unpaid, but firsthand experience was valuable.
“Every weekday, except Friday, I took the train and worked there 30-40 hours a week. Sometimes I did weekend work.”–Jordan Konieczny
Given the fact he had limited transportation at the time, Konieczny took the train every morning to his workplace. While he worked full time, along with his actual job, Jordan became part of the Marketing Team where he helped with mics, became one of the film and footage editors, and would spend around 8 hours a day working on his craft, seated in the office, and sometimes on the set, or sometimes in the rooms. He worked on different tasks and worked with different things. His boss who went by the name ‘Mike’ supervised his work and gave him feedback.
While Konieczny did certainly work full time, he recounted his boss being ‘chill’ with him working remotely on occasions.
THE BIG EXPERIENCE AS A VIDEO EDITOR INTERN
During his time as a video editor, worked on some big projects. His top 3 largest endeavors were a dance recital video, a dance montage video, and an advertisement for a children’s camp. As working with raw video footage, Jordan used Adobe Premiere and other video editing programs to help assemble clips, correct audio, trim the fat from clips, add transitions and a few special effects to make a viable marketing video. He even made some of the graphics for the intros. The most difficult project for him to work on was the dance montage video as he had to sort through footage and select the choice shots to put into a montage. What was even more challenging was how the dancers were obstructed by each other and the lighting was unbalanced so a lot of work was needed, but in the end, it paid off, and it was well-received.
His works would be then uploaded to the site and used as advertisements to help attract new members or alert them about upcoming events and activities.
Experience wasn’t the only reward. An abundance of popcorn was provided for employees and interns alike and would constantly be supplied at the work office every day for grabs. All sorts of flavors, Chipotle, Skinny Pop, Jalapeno, Caramel. A satisfactory compensation for hard work done right.
Konieczny finished his duty at the internship with over 180 hours of work (the minimum requirement for an internship completion) in just 2 months. He was well-liked by the employees and by his boss, and they said their only regret with him was that they couldn’t employ him and permanently make him part of the team.
“I 100% urge students from the Comm Department to give that YMCA a go. They’re always willing to hire college or high school students for internships, and it’s worth it if they don’t mind traveling a long distance.”–Jordan Konieczny
Northbrook Suburban YMCA still has open internship positions every summer.
There’s another story about an internship obtained by ONU student Marina Prather. One can learn more about a paid internship in Massachusetts concerning film. This story is written by Juan Aguilar.
