Internship Launches Career

By Emily Jardon

It’s not uncommon for mass media students to find employment opportunities connected to their internships.

In the summer of 2019, Dustin Wallace got an internship in digital communications at the Kansas Insurance Department, and now he is the digital communications manager. He tells people he’s the luckiest guy because that internship has led to a full-time job.

Faculty in the department know luck rarely has anything to do with it.

“Dustin was an extremely hard-working student,” said Regina Cassell, senior lecturer. “We worked with him to design the cover for the inaugural WIFI film festival program. He was willing to keep fine-tuning until both he and Dr. Maria Stover were satisfied.”

A willingness to learn and a great work ethic are often two key components for students who leverage their internships into a career.

“This is why we stress the value of having great internships to help create those work samples in your portfolio,” said Cassell. “We expect students like Dustin to land on their feet and do well.”

When Wallace transferred to Washburn, he found his passion for mass media through Public Relations professor Kristen Grimmer.

“It was through her confidence in me that I built my confidence in my writing skills and my abilities. I do owe my focus in public relations to Professor Grimmer,” Wallace said.

His first assignment in the digital communications department was designing a new logo for the KID. The old logo had been used since 1861, and the department gave him creative freedom to design something new.

“The creation of the new logo was a fantastic spring forward of confidence, both in my own ability and their confidence in me,” Wallace said, who admitted that logo design in visual communications was not exactly his favorite assignment.

Having that freedom allowed him to show

Photo courtesy Dustin Wallace Alumnus Dustin Wallace reflects on his experiences at Washburn that helped him to progress forward in his career. Designing the Kansas Insurance Department’s logo was a project that Wallace says gave him new found confidence in his job.

what he could do, and he credits the promotions writing class he took at Washburn for teaching him those skills.

Every day is different in the Kansas Insurance Department. His most recent project was relaunching the website they had been working on since November. He enjoys the challenge and uses skills that he learned from the mass media department at Washburn to reach that end goal. “It just goes to show even if your heart is set on something like public relations, it can change, and you can find where you fit in,” Wallace said.