Double Header Post & Creative Brainstorming
This week, I worked on a double header post and spent time brainstorming additional graphic and photography ideas to support the spring sports marketing plan. This process helped me think more strategically about how individual posts fit into a larger campaign, rather than designing just singular graphics. I had to consider consistency, timing, and how visuals work together across a full season and athletics account.

The Importance of Brand Fonts
One of the biggest lessons I learned this week was how important it is to use the correct fonts. When graphics are shared or reposted on the main Stetson Athletics account, any inconsistency becomes much more noticeable. I created multiple versions of a lacrosse schedule graphic, one using a non-Stetson font that I personally liked more, and another using the official Stetson font. While I still prefer the first version from a design standpoint, the second version clearly fits better within the Stetson Athletics feed and looks more cohesive alongside other athletic graphics.

This became especially clear when I saw the captains lacrosse post & 13 Days coundown post I designed was reposted on the Stetson athletics account, I immediately noticed how much it stood out in a negative way due to the font difference. Seeing my work in that context made me more aware of how brand identity plays a huge role in perception. 

Access to the Stetson Athletics Style Guide
One reason some of the earlier posts, including the captains and countdown graphics (the “13 Days” post), did not use the correct fonts was simply because I did not have access to them yet. This week, Athletics finally shared the official Stetson Athletics style guide with me. Having access to this now I know it will make a huge positive difference in my future designs. I am glad I learned / realized this early on as I shift from strictly stetson lacrosse related graphics to all and any stetson athletics team as I continue this internship. Moving forward, I plan to focus more intentionally on maintaining consistent brand identity so that my graphics feel seamless when posted across any Stetson Athletics platform.

Overall, Week 3 helped me better understand the importance of branding, consistency, and thinking beyond personal design preferences. 

Learning to Work With Clients
This week, a big focus of my internship was learning how to work with “clients” and balance their ideas with my creative ideas. I learned that sometimes you have to put the client’s vision first, even if it is not exactly what you think is best creatively. At the same time, I also learned that part of being a designer is knowing when full creative control from a client could hurt the final product and when it is important to guide them toward a stronger visual outcome.

One of the main projects I worked on this week was designing lacrosse posters for outside the coaches’ offices. These use the Stetson Lacrosse “Culture Words.” I created multiple versions, including my original design, a version based on the coaches’ vision, feedback and ideas from others, and the final approved design. Seeing all of the variations side by side was helpful in understanding how designs evolve through collaboration and feedback. The final product is the compromise; however, I still personally like my original version the best. 

I also worked on a collage style poster, which came with its own set of challenges. I had a limited number of photos and athletes I was allowed to use, and the images came from different photographers over several years. Because each photographer edited their photos differently, it was difficult to create a cohesive look across the entire poster. To fix this, I had to individually adjust nearly every photo’s exposure, contrast, saturation, and overall tone to create a more consistent “filter” and visual style. This process was time-consuming, but it taught me a lot about color correction and how small adjustments can help unify a design.

Overall, Week 2 pushed me to think more critically about collaboration, creative decision making, and consistency in design.  

Stetson Softball Media Day

My first week of the internship was a lot of hands-on experiences that pushed me outside my comfort zone creatively and technically. The first project I worked on was Softball media pictures and hype video. I helped set up professional lighting equipment, including multiple expensive lights that I had not previously handled on my own, and helped build my confidence working with higher-end production gear. During the shoot, I used my own camera to capture behind-the-scenes photos of both the media day and the hype video. This was my first time shooting with colored lighting and a fog machine, but I was surprisingly happy with how the images turned out. After the shoot, I edited all of the photos in Lightroom and sent them to both the softball team and Stetson Athletics for use across their social media platforms. 

More Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCGsLd

Stetson Lacrosse Hype Video

Another project I worked on this week was the Lacrosse Hype Video. I am on the lacrosse team so it was especially meaningful to be involved in the behind the seasons creative process. Since the hype video team had never worked with lacrosse before, I sent some inspiration ahead of time and shared examples to help visualize what a lacrosse specific hype video could look like. I started with helping with lighting and overall set setup again. Rodrigo, who leads video production, taught me how to set up and operate the video camera, monitor, and tripod. This was my first real experience working independently with video. I had my own filming station, separate from the main camera. While my background is primarily in photography, this project allowed me to gain valuable experience in videography. 

Stetson Basketball Game

Later in the week, I covered for Rodgrigo at the Stetson basketball game on my own using a larger film camera and monitor, without a tripod, which I had not done before. This experience differed from the earlier projects, which were more collaborative and guided. They knew I had limited experience with basketball videography, but were okay with me learning in real time. Sitting on the court and filming live was both exciting and challenging. It took time to figure out what moments to capture, how to follow the ball, adjust focus and zoom, etc. By the second half of the game, I felt myself improving but it was definitely a good trial-and-error process.

Overall, this first week was a good introduction to the internship. I gained hands-on experience with advanced equipment, helped with the creative process, and got to work both collaboratively and independently in fast-paced environments.

Words can’t fully describe the feeling of entering the last week of my internship with COACH. It was truly bittersweet. On one hand, I felt incredibly proud of myself for not only earning this opportunity but also dedicating 100% of my energy to making the most out of it. On the other, it was hard to believe this chapter was coming to an end.

At the beginning, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Retail was a completely new world to me, something I had never really pictured myself working in. But looking back, it turned out to be better than I ever could have imagined.

I’m beyond grateful for every single moment.

The Winner of the Contest

With a stunning upset, the first floor came in clutch and won in the end. I was told that someone bought about sixty backpacks, (which were worth the most amount of points) and swept the competition their way for floor number uno! This stunned every intern, especially when we all counted up the final tally. This was celebrated with cake for all the floors, but floor one got a trophy specifically engraved for their victory.

In the world of Claims

We had a rough week in the office, with our subrogation project taking longer than thought and our supervisor being out for a couple days it was hectic without our usual guide. But we had daily morning huddles with the Litigation team and that usually helped screw our heads on for the most part until our supervisor came back. We had more Subrogation and Depositions to sit in on and soak up for our experience. Being something new I was able to focus pretty well.

Intern meetings

With the project finished it was time to make our presentation. We present in two weeks time to the company we’ve been working at all summer. We each have a slide for our individual self, our department, and what role we played in the project. I will talk about the marketing and what went into the designs, the need to stay within the colors of the company and the addition of school like qualities. As well as the final number of donations raised. 1,489 items.

Litigation

During this week we said goodbye to the Catastrophe team and got introduced to the Litigation team. The leader of the team happened to be the father of one of the claims interns. So it was really interesting to see just how much of a family company this company is. We learned about Subrogation, Salvage, Large Loss, Liability, Mediation, and Deposition. I even got to sit in on some of the meetings for Mediation and Deposition, both were very interesting and I wish I could explain the details for them but I legally can’t. Which is always so cool.

Another Field Trip

Moving forward I had a field trip to a company called Foundation Risk Partners and met the interns there. None of them went to Stetson but all were very nice. We got a tour of their building, an understanding of what they do there, and took a photo with them. They then came to Security First and ate lunch with us, while our CEO and President did a presentation to them about our company and all we do.

Subrogation

Our new project for subrogation consisted of accessing the claim file and determine what kind of loss it was, who was at fault, and if subrogation was needed. It takes some time for each cell in excel but we should have enough time to finish it before the internship is done.

Internship Project

With the last of the donations done this week the floor winner will be announced soon.

The Long Week

This week was a long week, one that took a new definition to repetition. We did IA training all week long, and as an intern that meant taking notes for them rather than photos and videos. It was a chaotic week for me that has problems with stimulation. I found myself missing answers to questions and zoning out as the long lectures went on day after day. I got through it and eventually the end of the week came but it was not without it’s many struggles for me.

Intern Project update.

Other than that I had an alright week, on Monday I had free time so I worked a little more on my intern project and finished the marketing around the building for it. At this moment in time the forth floor was in the lead with the first floor being a close second.

Check in’s

During all this chaos I had a mental health check in with the HR representative that was also aiding us with the project and driving out intern meetings. I had to express the feelings and thoughts I had about the company and what I was doing there. I was not completely honest with her, because I had other things on my mind. Like will I have time to eat before the break is up and I have to take more notes? The usual stuff. Not much else can be said about this week except that it was very exhausting to me.

This week, my main goal was to tie up loose ends while still starting new tasks. We finished another episode and locked another edit. The video release agreement form was on our radars, as well as a 3D print of a phoenix and the upcoming magazine project.

Final Cut: Dr. Lua’s Episode

The big milestone was finishing Lua’s interview. Syncing the external mic track to the camera feed became a frame-by-frame process because of multiple cuts that were made in the video. Every time the sound felt subtly off, but once we aligned it, the whole piece tightened up. We have done the color correction, cut some of it, added the intro with outro, exported it, and called it done.

Interfaith Recording

Friday’s shoot was our smoothest yet. Dr. Lua hosted a conversation with Imam Rasheed, Rabbi Kay, and Dr. Hunter about faith, identity, and common ground. We double-checked mic levels, but one microphone turned off halfway through; we paused, re-asked the lost questions, and will put them accurately into the edit. Unfortunate, but fixable – and proof that we’re finally calm when the equipment misbehaves.

Release Forms

Before we finish the internship, we need signed waivers from every student guest. I put the release text into a Google Doc, filled it with names, and the speaker’s emails. Lua is handling the big names (Daryl, Jeff, Marc, Alan), while I’m tracking down everyone else. A little admin work now prevents legal issues later.

Uploading material

On Friday, I spent time uploading rendered podcasts, interviews, and project files into a neat folder structure for the fall interns. I believe it is a good practice to leave a tidy workplace behind.

Magazine

Next week we’ll hold the kickoff meeting for the January 2026 Phoenix Generation magazine and annual report – a project Mr. Marc has commissioned. Leveraging my layout and design experience, I’ll join the team. Together, we’ll brainstorm initial content and define everyone’s project roles.

Reflection

I really value the hands-on experience and growth this internship offered, from fixing audio and video problems to writing the scripts and taking photos. I’m also happy that I will keep working with Dr. Lua on future projects, building on what we have achieved so far.

I can’t believe I’m almost at the end of my internship! Even though it’s wrapping up, we’re still learning and doing so much.

This week, I made huge progress on my final project presentation. The slides are done (finally!), and now I’m fully focused on practicing what I’m going to say and making sure I feel confident. The presentation is on Tuesday, August 5. I’m soooo nervous, but also excited and prepared to do my best!

One of the highlights of the week was an amazing lunch with Coach’s District Manager, where we dove into the importance of HR in a company. He shared real stories from his career, reflecting on how things could’ve been handled differently and how HR played a key role in shaping those outcomes. What really stuck with me was his perspective that HR isn’t just about discipline, it’s a valuable resource for support, helping people navigate challenges with coworkers, customers, and managers. He also highlighted the resources Tapestry offers to make sure every employee feels heard and supported.

We even had a training session where we were presented with delicate HR scenarios and asked how we’d respond as leaders. I really liked this exercise, it reminded me that being a leader is, more than anything, about learning how to deal with people. There’s not always one right answer, and it’s crucial to stay empathetic and impartial.

Finally, we had a sneak peek call about the upcoming product launches and the strategies behind each one. While I can’t spill any details, I can say this: I’m OBSESSED. So many exciting things are on the way, and I’m in love with the direction the brand is heading.

It’s been interesting to realize just how deeply I’ve connected with Coach. Not just the product, but the people, the values, the mission. This experience has made me see that this is the kind of place I’d love to work long-term.

After last week’s intense round of edits and emails, week nine brought me right back to the studio twice. We started preparing the needed material for the next group of interns, recorded two more episodes, and had a field trip to Universal with all interns. It was a great way to keep the energy going.

Podcast Shoot – Agree / Disagree (Round 1)

Monday’s session was called “Agree/Disagree”. In this recording, multiple statements were given, and speakers had to either agree or disagree using our new original format: one finger meant strongly disagree, and five meant strongly agree. Prompts included “Money can buy happiness” and “It’s okay to pull the wings off a cockroach for fifty dollars”. We began with quick introductions and then let the debate flow, asking follow-up questions. The conversation and the recording process felt much smoother than in previous shoots, likely because we had become familiar with the camera angles and microphone settings.

Podcast Shoot – Agree / Disagree (Round 2)

On Wednesday, we introduced a new lineup of guests and made the statements more debatable. Here are some topics we have covered: social media age limits, mandatory uniforms, a limit on how much money one person can earn, a ban on subscriptions, and many more. We used the same finger scale, and the energy remained high throughout the entire recording.

Data Drop for the Next Crew

We also began creating the archive, which includes footage folders, audio stems, and prompt sheets. This way, the fall interns won’t have to deal with a confusing set of “final_FINAL_v3” files. It felt odd to prepare for a hand-off already, but organizing everything now will mean fewer problems for the next interns.

Universal Friday

Phoenix Gen surprised the intern team with a day at Universal. No cameras and no prompts – just roller coasters and conversations. It was a nice reset before diving back into edits.

Reflection

During week nine, we’ve reached a point where the technical details fade into the background, allowing the dialogue to take center stage. Handing off clean folders to the next team feels like proof we’ve picked up some knowledge about managing our workflow along the way.