Behind the Scenes of a Communications Internship in Hershey

From stepping into a professional role for the first time to having the most fun on the job, my summer internship with Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) has been such a large stepping stone in my future career path and development. As the Communications Intern within the Professional Internship Program, I have had the sweetest summer yet. Keep reading down below for a behind-the-scenes look into my last three months spent in the Sweetest Place on Earth.

Patriotic Summer Celebration at Hersheypark

This summer, Hersheypark went all-out for America’s 250th birthday. My first week in the office was actually spent out in the amusement park capturing content of the America-themed decorations and special Memorial Day events. Among the season-long celebrations was also the inaugural All-American Mascot Day, where over 100 mascots joined the Hershey Characters in a parade, meet and greets and fun! In my role, I escorted local media outlets around the event and captured social media content that reached tens of thousands of people. In fact, the group mascot photo also ran in local and regional media stories!

Hersheypark Stadium Summer Concert Series

As a fan of all things music, having live concerts built into my role was one of the most amazing experiences. I was lucky enough to shadow our entertainment specialist to get a view of all things show-related at Hersheypark Stadium, including operations and media relations. Being a Directioner and country music fan since the age of five, I was so excited to not only attend the Thomas Rhett & Niall Horan show at Hersheypark Stadium, but also get a behind-the-scenes look while escorting photographers and capturing up-close social media content. I absolutely loved this event, and it was one of the greatest opportunities of the summer!

Milton Hershey School Intern Collaboration

As the Communications Intern, I worked in the Hershey Press Building and grew close with the eight other professional interns from marketing and legal as we shared an office for the summer. For a few short weeks in July, the college interns were joined by high school interns from Milton Hershey School (MHS). The 16 of us worked together to create a marketing campaign pitch for the upcoming 125th birthday of Hersheypark. After working on our pitch for two weeks, we had the opportunity to present our collaborative ideas to our supervisors and HE&R leadership the following week, we shared our project with executives within the park and across the company.

While the time spent working with all the MHS interns was incredibly special, one opportunity was even more amazing: the chance to work with my MHS Communications counterpart, Sammy. Sammy and I had such a great time shooting and uploading content together across events and properties!

Networking Opportunities

With 13 hospitality and tourism brands across the destination, I consistently made meaningful connections across all departments and properties in my day-to-day job duties. Additionally, interns were invited to more than ten sessions throughout the course of the summer, which covered diverse topics including workplace inclusion, finance and even our company's Core Purpose of providing value to MHS, where we had the chance to speak with industry leaders within HE&R. Our big networking events included a breakfast at The Hotel Hershey, a luncheon at Hershey Lodge and finally our intern closing reception at Hershey Country Club. While speaking with HE&R team members was an incredible opportunity, networking with fellow summer interns was just as meaningful to me.

Skillset Development

This summer, I gained so much valuable experience in the field of Communications and Public Relations, thanks to the help of my supervisor and the entire Communications team. In my time, I wrote media alerts, created blog posts such as this one, traveled to local news stations and collaborated with the marketing and creative teams. A few of my favorite HE&R brands to capture content for were Hershey Social, since it has playful room for creating reels and fun posts, and, of course, Hersheypark, as it is a nationally recognized and award-winning brand! The team was always happy to invite me along to daily events and reach out a helping hand when I needed it. I am so grateful that the Communications team trusted me in my role, as this opportunity was so special to my personal and professional development!

With the award-winning Hersheypark Leadership Development Internship, Hospitality Internship Program and Culinary and Professional Internships, HE&R offers experiential learning opportunities for all majors of study. Keep an eye on HersheyJobs.com for internship opportunities as they become available throughout the year.