Name: Austin Anderson
Major: Journalism and Mass Communication
Graduation: December 2019
Job Title: Editorial Apprentice
Company: Meredith
The Meredith Apprenticeship Program is a unique partnership between Iowa State University and Meredith Corporation which allows 10 students to work for a year within the company. Austin Anderson was selected to be one of those top ten and has spent the past year working at Meredith!
Meredith Corporation is a media and marketing services company that stays on the pulse of pop culture, entertainment, food, fashion, news, business and finance through the multiple magazines, TV stations, websites and radio stations that it owns.
Austin, a senior in Journalism and Mass Communication, started his apprenticeship last September. During his time there he contributed to the Successful Farming Magazine. He wrote things from weather updates, TV Show updates, country music stories and much more! He gained reporter and editing skills and was able to get great writing samples to use as he starts looking for a full-time job upon graduation.
“I wrote for newspapers for the first three years of college and in high school, so I really enjoyed getting an inside look into how a national magazine operates,” said Austin. “It was definitely more relaxed than the rapid pace of newspapers.”
He was also surprised by the planning process, stating that they were having conversations in September about what to write about in June.
Austin heard about his internship by keeping involved in the Greenlee School. They promote the program to all of its students, and Austin decided to take a shot at it.
Austin also works in our LAS Career Services office, assisting with branding and communications of events to students.
“When I got the email telling me I got the apprenticeship, I was at a concert for country music singer Logan Mize. Four months later, I was interviewing Mize about how he balances touring and working on his family farm,” said Austin. “ In the same week, I interviewed Luke Bryan about his “Farm Tour” where he played shows on huge farms across the country, including in Boone. I had to pinch myself that week. Now when I think about my future career, I know I want to have more weeks like that. None of that would have been possible without the Meredith Apprenticeship Program.”