Internship Overview

Who am I? What is my internship?

My name is Klarissa Barley and I have been a member of the West Texas A&M Equestrian Team for 3 years now. I am a Hunt Seat Rider and show in Open Fences and Open Flat. I’m currently finishing up my junior year, majoring in Mass Communications and minoring in English. This essay will be an overview and reflection of my internship through the Spring 2020 season.

This 2019-2020 season I was elected by the equestrian team and by the coach to the Officer Board as the Official Media Representative for the team. This means that I am responsible for running all WT Equestrian’s social media pages, which include: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. During the end of the fall semester I asked my coach if I could use this opportunity to count for an internship and she said yes!

Goals

My personal goal for my internship is to get the team recognized! The team has multiple National Championships and 14 consecutive regional championships. I believe that the WTAMU Equestrian Team is one of the most successful athletic teams at WT, but the other sports overshadow them. This due to the lack of exposure the WT Athletics provides for the team, which is a concern that I have respectfully addressed with them. As a member of the team, it can be really discouraging when our successes are not acknowledged like the other sports are. And it can make us feel like we are less than the rest of the athletes when we work just as hard. Although, the coverage from WT Athletics has improved, the only way to provide adequate exposure is to take matters into our own hands.

So what do I do?

Throughout the spring semester I have been working with Tyson Jex of WTAMU Athletics and WTAMU Equestrian Head Coach, Amanda Ellis to improve the team’s media. I have worked with Tyson on press releases and gathering good quality photos of team members for WT Athletics. Coach had a few other projects in mind for me, however these were cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

My main project with my coach was working on a flyer/infographicfor horse donations to the WTAMU Equestrian program. I had to make various edits throughout the semesterin order to submit the best one! I created a graphic for the Hunt Seatteam and the Western team. Both advertise what kind of horses we are looking foras well as informing the user of where and who to contact.

Kendall Woellmer, a team member and I also worked with Trevor Fleeman. Trevor is a photographer for WT Athletics. He took the time to meet with us on various occasions and take pictures of our team. This is something that WT Athletics does not typically do for the equestrian team and I am very thankful for his work! He has taken action shots and headshots of the team that I have used on social media. (An example of his photography can be found on the left). These pictures are very professional and have improved the look of the WT Equestrian’s social media accounts.

Show Week

Show week is the busiest week for me as a student, an intern and an athlete. During show week I heavily advertise the show and results as well as help run and compete in the show (if it is a hunt seat show). Typically, in the beginning of the week I would post a graphic advertising the show. This graphic is posted to all the media accounts, alerting fans of when, where and what kind of show it is. An example of this can be found on the right above.

Then on Saturday morning I make a “Show Day” post that is posted on Facebook, Twitter and the Instagram story. This show day post can be a picture or a video. The one I have included on the link (here) is a video that was extremely popular with our fans on Twitter!

Throughout the show I continue to post real time updates using Facebook, Twitter and the Instagram story. This can be difficult especially when we are hosting a show or I am competiting in the show, but I still manage to post all the results. In addition to posting updates, I try to keep the Instagram story active as well. I want fans who are at the show to get the best experience.

I do not show Western, so sometimes I do not go to the Western shows. In this case I ask the team members to send me results and pictures so I can continue to post! This can also be difficult because I have to wait for other people to send me the updates and photos.

On Monday or Tuesday, after the show is over. I ask the team members to send me pictures from the show so I can post them on all the social media pages.I caption the pictures with the results of the show and these posts usually do pretty well.There is an example of this post below.

Impact of Covid-19

The IHSA and NCEA have cancelled the remainder of the season to prevent the spread of

the disease. This was disappointing because I had a few more projects inmind, but it has given me more time to post andmonitorthe media accounts.With the lack of events to report on I had to get creative. I havebeen postingat twice a week on all accounts. I created "story games” which are interactiveInstagram stories that team members can share and tag @WTAMUEquestrian. I made a bingo board that is included on the right that was very popular and successful with current team members and alumni. With classes being moved online, I also have had more timeto plan future posts.

Reflection

I have really enjoyed my internship with WT Equestrian! I feel as though I have left the social media pages better than I found them.I have increased followers and engagement on all pages. Over the summer I will be continuing torunand manage the pages. I even already have a few posts planned for the summer! This internship has increased my knowledgein both the equestrian field and the social media marketing field. One day I hope to be employed with a job just like this.