Parker Lee, communication, Greenville Utilities Commission
The biggest lesson that Parker Lee learned this summer as an intern with Greenville Utilities Commission (GUC) is a simple one.
“Everyone has a story, no matter how long they’ve been at a company,” she said.
Parker Lee spent her summer interning at Greenville Utilities Commission. (Contributed photo)
Her role as the communications intern at GUC is to find and tell those stories. Lee is a communication major with a concentration in public relations. The Clayton native found her internship through LinkedIn and decided to apply.
“I saw a post on my supervisor’s page that there was an intern position open,” Lee said. “I had heard good things from other people about working at GUC and the internship, so I applied.”
Some of her duties include creating social media posts, writing employee newsletter articles, updating the website and developing ideas for both physical and digital materials. It was through her work assisting with the company newsletter that Lee first discovered the importance of telling the varied stories of GUC’s people.
Internships are often an extension of the classroom, and Lee believes that her classroom experiences properly prepared her for her intern duties.
“My classes have given me a good foundation of the things I do at my internship,” she said. “Getting to apply what I’ve learned in my classes at GUC has helped me to jump headfirst into tasks that I would’ve been hesitant to do before. I feel like every day is a learning experience no matter what I’ve learned from those in GUC’s public information office or in class.”
Unlike many internships, Lee’s will continue during the fall semester. She feels that her GUC experience is shining a light on the right career path.
“I feel like this internship confirmed that the communication field is right for me,” she said. “The daily interactions I’ve had and when I’ve written and developed ideas that are genuinely liked and appreciated by others in the office have shown me that I belong in this field. I can see myself doing this in the future.”