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Campus safety intern Katie Steil experiences the good type of stress as she plans events and communications campaigns for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Counseling Center as a part of the Student Titan Employment Program (STEP).

Name: Katie Steil
Role: Campus Safety Intern
Department: Counseling Center
Major: Journalism — public relations
Minor: Speech communication
Year: Junior
Hometown: Beaver Dam, Wis.

What specific tasks do you do for your internship?

“Right now, one my tasks is to plan a fire safety event that is targeted specifically at off-campus residents. I’m also working on a separate campaign that is meant to raise awareness of the bystander affect with a focus on the entire campus community.”

How will the internship benefit your education?

“I’ve never had to work on a campaign before, so I’m getting experience in all phases of event planning and logistics. There are so many aspects of event planning you don’t always think about, so it’s good to be involved every step along the way.”

How will the internship benefit your future?

“I’m gaining experience in mass communication, which will hopefully put me ahead of other candidates when I search for a job.”

How is the internship benefiting your department?

“The Counseling Center comes to me with lots of different ideas, and I have to figure out what the best option is for the message they are trying to convey. I help develop and expand upon concrete ideas and brainstorm new concepts.”

What has been your favorite part of the internship? Why?

“I really like all phases of event planning, even though it can be very stressful at times. It’s very rewarding once the event happens.”

Have you faced any challenges?

“The biggest challenge is scheduling in-person interviews and working around busy schedules of the people I interact with.”

Supervisor Joe Abhold, director of the Counseling Center, says …

“Katie is providing our department with the resources and opportunities to do some amazing things for our students that we wouldn’t be able to do without her. She’s teaching me about public relations, and I’m teaching her about working with campus representatives.”

The Student Titan Employment Program (STEP) offers students quality educational experiences while providing faculty and staff members with needed assistance in areas such as media services, student-faculty research, supplemental instruction, library assistance, instructional technology and academic computing support, and Web page development and maintenance. The program is funded through a one-time investment of $500,000. More than 110 students are funded through STEP.

Photo by See Xiong.