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Obtaining a full-time job before graduation is something every college student hopes for. For Ali Smith, she was one of the lucky.<\/span><\/p>\n Ali is currently a senior at Western Carolina University studying communication with a concentration in public relations. Smith was born and raised in Sylva and chose to stay close to home due to scholarship opportunities and the love of a small town. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Through the communication department, Smith has found amazing opportunities that have helped her with her future aspirations. Western Carolina\u2019s communication program has a mandatory internship course where students must work with a company of their choosing for class credit. Smith was able to stay close to home as she interned at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center in the Summer of 2019. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy internship has helped me greatly. I think it was one of the most important classes that I have taken,\u201d says Smith. <\/span><\/p>\n During her internship Smith was able to use what she learned in her classes in the real world. <\/span><\/p>\n In her professional development class, she was able to perfect her resume and interviewing skills which helped landed her the internship. Smith even got to take a social media class where she uses her skills learned in class to help run the Facebook page for the Chamber. <\/span><\/p>\n After her summer internship was completed, Smith was offered a part-time position with the Chamber as continues to finish up schoolwork during her senior year. In addition to working in Guest Services, she also helps\u00a0with event and special project\u00a0assistance, administrative, and member services as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Smith was able to learn more about her interests which helped narrow down a future career path for her. \u201cThis position has made me realize that I like event planning and I like doing social media and I love being able to talk to people,\u201d says Smith. <\/span><\/p>\n As Smith faces graduation, the Chamber has offered her a full-time job. Not only was she given a full-time position after she graduates, she gained experience and skills. \u201cIt gives you real hands on experience and I was lucky enough to meet and network with many amazing people and I gained great connections,\u201d says Smith. <\/span><\/p>\n Smith offers this advice to communication majors, \u201cEnjoy it and get everything you can out of the opportunities that professors offer you. Ask questions, and network with people. Start building connections and relationships.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Obtaining a full-time job before graduation is something every college student hopes for. For Ali Smith, she was one of the lucky. Ali is currently a senior at Western Carolina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[329,88,97],"tags":[147,226],"class_list":["post-14779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-news","category-news","category-student","tag-prsa","tag-student-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14779"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15620,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions\/15620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/comm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}