WELD intern Evan Moore, right, watches WELD Director of Video Keith Doherty prep the new GoPro POV cameras for a video shoot on ACE Adventure Resort's zip line canopy tour.

I had to read the week’s “Internship News” twice when I saw the WELD posting.

There was a company in the heart of West Virginia looking for a student interested in social media, multimedia, videography, new media and everything in between. I wouldn’t have been able to create a better opportunity for an internship if I had tried.

Throughout my college career at West Virginia University, I have been told (and reminded multiple times) that the career landscape for journalists is constantly changing. The traditional model of journalism that lands on your doorstep every morning just can’t keep pace with the 24-hour frenzy that defines the news industry.

So modern journalism students, like myself, have been given an ultimatum: Adapt and innovate or get left behind.

Seems straightforward, right? Well, unfortunately, no one has yet been able to figure out a consistent formula that will guide the industry through these turbulent times.

On a personal level, I think my internship with WELD is a step in the right direction.

I began studying journalism with the intent to write but instead soon began emphasizing visual communication. Since then, my education has established a path of its own as I have taken classes in graphic design, page layout, blogging, social media, videography, photography and visual storytelling.

When you add a love for the outdoors, WELD doesn’t seem like such a bad place to spend the summer.

It’s great that Oak Hill is near some of the best outdoor recreation areas in West Virginia, but I plan to learn a lot this summer as well. Working with WELD is already forcing me to develop and use new skills that I will be able to apply in my classes back in Morgantown.

So far I have shot and edited video, written blog posts, applied social media to a marketing strategy, and uploaded optimized photos and videos to the Internet. Since I have only worked a handful of full days, I’m excited about what else the summer has in store for me.

Evan Moore is a summer intern with WELD. Follow him on Twitter @evancmo.

Tags: digital marketing, Social Media, WELD, WELD internships

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 12:00 am by Evan Moore and is filed under WELD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.