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Experiential Paper
Aba Overcomer
COMM 46092
Kent State University
August 15, 2016

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Communication is one of the key aspects of an organization. Modaff, DeWine and Butler
2008, stated, Organizational communication is a communicatively constructed, historically
based system of assumption, values, and interpretive framework (p.100). The authors also
continued that, this framework guides and constrain organizational members as they perform
their organizational roles and confront the challenges of their environment (p. 100). Within an
organization, members create their own culture and there is an understanding of that culture even
when new members come along. For example, systems of shared meaning. Shared meaning that
is expressed through a number of symbolic forms like the logo of the company, rituals that
members do, stories that are told about the organization and myths. My Practicum experience
with Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has demonstrated the importance of
effective communication within a workforce. In this paper, I will discuss my time spent at DEI as
well as cultural aspects and personal growth.
Arriving at the end of my studies at Kent, and making a decision for a facility where I
will complete my internship was exciting, but nerve wrecking, as well as there, were many offers
to choose from. After a lot of praying and thoughtful decision, I decided to go with Division of
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). From the moment I stepped into DEI, I felt like I
belonged there. DEI has a family oriented environment with very friendly people who make an
attempt to know their guests professionally and personally. The doors of DEI staff are always
open to welcome students who need someone to listen to them or simply to exchange
pleasantries. On one raining afternoon, I had stopped by the office simply to talk to the DEI staff,
and that was how I learned about internship opportunities available at DEI. After learning about
internship opportunities at DEI, I submitted an application right away as I was very determined
to work with the very warm and welcoming staffs in the department.

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I started my internship at DEI ending of the Spring Semester, 2016. My experience

working for DEI was rewarding, and I am thankful for the time I spent there, as this experience
helped me to grow not only on a personal level but as a professional as well. I was not only
treated as a regular intern, but the staff at DEI made me part of the overall team giving me
opportunities to take responsibilities. Throughout my time at DEI, I had three different positions.
I was first offered a Social Media Coordinator position, then Marketing Coordinator for
International Student Affairs, and finally in the summer, I became Outreach and Engagement
Associate. The responsibilities of an outreach and engagement associate involve writing and
managing production of various public relation materials. Including news releases, letters to the
editor, talking points, etc. Also, responding to campaign-related media requests and work with
University Communications to arrange story placement, interviews for donors, leadership and
senior administration. Over the past few months at DEI, I have learned more about coordination
in a professional work environment, collaborating with team members while improving my
professional skills.
Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion can be described as an organization that
celebrates diverse student bodies, faculty, staff and administration at Kent campus. DEI division
was established in 2010 and is also home to the Womens Center, Office of Sexual Relationship
Violence Support Services (SRVSS), Green Dot Program, Student Multicultural Center, LGBTQ
Student Center and Trio Upward Bond. DEI is located on the second floor of the library at Kent.
At the beginning of my internship, I learned about the history of DEI, during orientation,
and I was also able to meet the team at DEI. During that meeting, I learned about the values,
stories, heroes and relevant constructs of the team. The DEI office is located right across from
the President office, which meant the dress code was always business attire. I was expected to

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always dress professionally which helped to further mold my understanding of what a real work
environment is all about.
My first day at DEI was pleasing, as I had the opportunity to work with some of my
friends and staff members whom I had begun to see as family. Speaking to staff members at DEI,
I understood that summer tends to be less eventful at DEI in terms of workload and duties.
Therefore, I mentally prepared myself going into these positions, as I was aware that, the job
continues through the summer. The workload at DEI during my internship was not as heavy as I
thought because duties were evenly shared among interns. I was one of the social media
coordinators, and then I was moved to the role of marketing coordinator for international student
affairs. However, I did not do anything major while I held both above mentioned positions
Some of the responsibilities I had at DEI during the Spring Semester were, running
errands, sending out emails; researching for DEI social media outlets, and answering phone calls.
During my experience, I also paid close attention to what other interns were doing, as I was
informed that I would be doing the exact work they were doing. Other projects I worked on were
participating on earth day materials, which entail designing some arts and craft, researching
marketing ideas as well as detailing down ideas that would allow the celebration of earth day to
be successful. Also, I went to different meetings with Avery. One of the projects I worked on in
the spring semester, was a project called 20 Women Project for the Womens Center, but as
time went on that project changed to me creating a board to showcase the Womens Center
Advisory 2016-2017 Board. I sent out emails to each member to obtain their information that
would later go on the board I was creating. I also created a story about the Academic S.T.A.R.S
(Students Achieving and Reaching for Success) and took photos and video of their closing

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ceremony performance. After the spring semester ended; I had about a month break before
working again in the summer.
On my first day of the summer internship, we had an orientation for all of the new interns
and I learned that I was assigned a new position, which was Outreach and Engagement Associate
as mentioned before. At the orientation, all the interns learned about the basics of their jobs and
where we were going to be working. I learned that I was going to be working at the Womens
Center. The Womens Center deals with affairs that support students, faculty members and staff
members through advocacy and education about women, gender, and diversity. The Center
offers resources that address matters of particular concern to the Kent community by providing
education, information and referral programs, and services (Womens Center webpage).
Although my spring internship was a bit slow, there were still action plans that needed to be
completed every day I went. Unfortunately, the beginning of my summer internship was very
slow and uneventful which was frustrating, because I like being busy and coming up with ideas.
Regardless of this barrier, I still went to the Womens Center every day, and asked my lead
person if there was anything that needed to be done, but unfortunately, the answer was mostly
no.
For some time I got really frustrated about being idle at DEI, and at a point, I questioned
my decision to intern for DEI. As mentioned before, I knew the workload was going to change in
the summer, but I felt the change was too drastic. I was disappointed and down because my
expectations when I first started working in the spring had changed completely. This continued
for next couple of weeks with nothing for me to do. I spoke with my internship directors, but that
was to no avail. In those moments when I was frustrated, I understood that no workplace is
perfect and any ideas of perfection I had, in the beginning, was not realistic. I decided that in

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order for me to have a fulfilling experience with DEI, I had to take initiative when needed. I
knew that if this were my job after graduation, I would be faced with the same challenges and
would, therefore, be expected to still make decisions that would benefit the organization.
I started to come up with different ideas of what I could be doing during the summer. I
spoke with a staff member at the Womens Center on what I could do for them whilst there.
They asked me to come up with a campaign title for stories I could write for their blog as well as
creating a logo for the campaign title. Once I learned this; I started to research on topics I would
write about. I knew that I wanted my stories to be inspiring to their blog readers, so I decided to
write about relationships, love, and self-motivational stories. After researching my stories, I
came up with a campaign titled I Am Worthy and an idea of a logo. I asked one of the other
interns to help me draw a logo and she ended being a contributor to the blog.
As I was working on the I Am Worthy stories and logo, I also came up with a different
idea of having people honestly describe their present situation in life using one word. I posed the
question: If you could pick out one word that represents your life, what would that word be?
The same intern student that helped me work on the I Am Worthy logo, also helped to legibly
write the words down on plain white papers for the project. After putting the project together, I
walked around Kent campus to ask people pick a word that honestly describe their present
situation, and I took pictures of each person holding up their chosen word. This project was
called I Am.
After I was finished with the two projects I was working on, I created a brochure that
would inform others about DEI. During my time at Kent State, I knew that not many students
knew about DEI especially African students. I created the brochure so that I could create more

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awareness about DEI among students and then encourage them to meet some of the people I met
through DEI.
Reflecting back on my experience with DEI, it was all worth it. Although in the
beginning, it was not everything I wanted it to be, but once the summer started, I got a wake-up
call of what it was like to work in a real work environment. This entire experience has given me
the tools and prepared me as world journalist. DEI gave me the strength and confidence I needed
in myself to believe in the ideas and work I do. In the past, when I had an idea of a project, I
rarely went through with it because I did not think people would respond to what I was doing. As
a result, I would always question my work, but working at DEI gave me the strengths to believe
in my ideas and the ability to take initiatives to push forth those ideas when there was not much
to do as opposed to waiting to be told what to do.

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Reference:

Modaff, D.

DeWine, S.

Butler, J. (2008). Organizational Communication: Foundations,

Challenges, and Misunderstandings (3rd Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Publishing Co.
Womens Center. (2016). About Us. Retrieved from
http://www.kent.edu/womenscenter/about-us