My name is Cierra Klonwski. I grew up in Idaho and went to Mountain View High School. I moved to Oahu with my family in 2016 and received my Associates in Television Production for Leeward Community College in 2019. I will be graduating with my BA in Creative Media concentration in Communication and New Media Technologies. If I were an artistʻs tool, I would be a palette because I like to hold all the pieces of a project before I start just like a palette will hold all the colors a painter uses to paint.
A common frustration among new college graduates searching for work is that many entry level jobs require candidates to already have some experience prior to applying. This creates a paradox that one needs experience to work in their career field but cannot work unless they already have experience. This phenomenon has led many students to participate in working internships, paid or unpaid, in order to jumpstart their job opportunities after graduation. Prior to 2020 the stereotype of an office intern looked like an ambitious but often overlooked young employee, running around an office fetching coffee for their senior colleagues and vigorously taking notes. Today, however, the role of an intern can look very different due to the rise in popularity of “work-from-home” positions. Widely introduced to companies around the world as an alternative to in-person work during the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, the initial application of remote-work has exceeded its use as a safety protocol and has since been adopted permanently by many companies as an option for employees whose positions can function remotely. College students looking for careers in these positions may now be looking at interning remotely, which begs the question: do remote internships provide the same valuable professional experience as traditional in-person internships?
The practicum is a planned, supervised, and evaluated practice experience. The goal of the practicum is to provide an opportunity for the student to synthesize, integrate, and apply practical skills, knowledge, and training learned through courses, to gain professional experience in a professional work environment, and to work on creative media projects that revolve around the research they conducted in the prior semester.
Practicum placements are individually selected and therefore, the focus, substance, and approach of the practicum will vary, depending on the studentʻs concentration and the specific interests, research goals, and professional objectives.