By Kailey Mishler ’24 

This summer I had the amazing opportunity to work as a public relations and marketing intern for the Ohio State Fair. I learned about this internship from Otterbein Senior Instructor Denise Shively. I was immediate interested and applied after doing some research on it — however, the internship exceeded all of my expectations.  

Throughout the summer, three other public relations interns and I worked as a team to prepare for the Ohio State Fair. Every day involved news tasks, including writing press releases, creating newsletters and media kits, creating content in Adobe InDesign or Canva, and so much more. One of my favorite aspects of the internship was the fact that every week consisted of different projects or tasks.  

The best part of the internship, by far, was working the actual fair event. During fair hours, the other interns and I were tasked with running the Media Center. This meant that we were in charge of working with any media outlet that wanted to cover the fair, including ABC6/FOX28, 10TV, NBC4, Spectrum News, and more.  

I had the opportunity to work directly with these large media organizations and help organize and direct them to their live television interviews. Sometimes this meant getting to the fairgrounds at 3 a.m. (yes, I said 3 a.m.!) and helping them coordinate their live hits for that morning.  

It was amazing to see these media organizations do their live interviews from behind the camera, and to network and create connections with them. Although these hours were long and grueling, I enjoyed every second of it!  

One aspect that set this internship apart from others is that, as an intern, you are treated as a real public relations professional. From the beginning of the summer, you are tasked with projects that would be expected of you in the professional world. To say that this internship was a resume-builder would be an understatement. I learned and improved so many skills, and gained experience working on a variety of different projects. 

This internship definitely made me more excited to pursue a career in public relations after graduation. I feel extremely prepared for the demands and requirements needed of me as a public relations professional. This internship boosted my confidence in my public relations and communications skills and pushed me to do my best everyday.  

If any journalism, public relations, or communications students are looking for an internship that will develop your skills and provide you with a great experience, I would encourage them to apply for the Ohio State Fair public relations and marketing internship program. Not only do you gain experience in the marketing and public relations field, but you also get to attend all 12 days of the Ohio State Fair!