courtney thompson

I work with Harvard's Red Books, personal essays from alumni that are compiled and sent out to the class as books. There's a lot of filing, making sure submissions are in the right cabinet since we are working with different classes. I also work in the database, updating contact and personal information when needed. There is an in-house style guide that I follow to make sure essays are consistent so edits are light, with few developmental changes. I also fact check to make sure proper nouns are spells correctly. Side-by-side proofreading ensures everything is consistent.

I helped organize rentals that were returned throughout the summer. For weeks it seemed we hardly made a dent! Books were then packaged and shipped to different stores. It was important to keep books separate and organized. We also received books from the publisher or from other stores, checking the inventory list to make sure everything was sent. As Fall approached, I helped organize and put up course tags, with the corresponding materials. I helped customers in-store and over the phone when they needed help placing orders. For a few days, I worked upfront at the register.

I helped revive the literary magazine with Editor-in-Chief and adviser Zelda Lockhart. It folded in 2010 due to funding cuts. We made promotional flyers and put them around the school, encouraging students to submit prose, poetry and original art. Lockhart helped set up the website, making the journal go digital. I sorted through submissions to pick which writers for publication, performed light edits and advised writers.

This was for class credit for an internship. I worked in the Relations Office and wrote letters for the school website. My sources largely came from news articles reporting on alumni and synthesizing the information for articles for the university.

During the summer I learned how to edit audio files and make PSAs. It was cool to have the experience of recording my voice and doing multiple takes before having to put everything together into a radio sized segment.

My friend, Tia Mitchell, first introduced me to the school newspaper when she was Editor-in-Chief. While I wasn't a Mass Communications major, I still enjoyed the experience of writing and keeping up to date on important events on campus. Most of my articles covered dance or music workshops by visiting artists. I also rated and reviewed new albums which were featured in the monthly paper. I also dabbled in photography, covering as the photographer fon other pieces