My year as the ATN Media, Marketing and Communications Intern – Alessia Zugaro
22 November 2024
Undertaking a year-long internship with ATN Universities in 2024 has been such a positive way to start my career.
After completing my undergraduate degree, I didn’t know what I would be doing post-university, as jobs in media and communications are not always linear and can be highly competitive. What interested me about ATN was the fact that it was a media and communications role in a policy-led environment. Prior to ATN I had some experience in policy but not a lot of industry experience in media. I double-majored in media and communications and politics and international relations, so it felt like the perfect fit. I also had a great university experience and loved the idea of being able to work for a group of universities.
Alessia Zugaro, ATN Media, Marketing & Communications Intern 2024
The internship opportunity at ATN seemed like a great stepping stone to help me transition out of university and into the workforce. I can say for certain this was the right choice, as this year has been such a formative year for me where I got to build on practical skills but also gain confidence in my soft skills.
I feel so fortunate to have joined the team at such a pivotal time celebrating ATN’s 25 years of advocating in higher education, because of this there was no shortage of work to be done! One of my favourite tasks that I took pride in every month was collating and assembling our monthly newsletter. Our member institutions, along with the ATN directorate, do such wonderful work throughout the year and I loved getting to communicate and amplify that. Additionally, seeking out members of our network for the Under the Microscope feature allowed me to learn so much about the range of research that our university faculties undertake. This allowed me to hone my writing and editing skills as it required me to take dense topics and translate them into more digestible content that could be repurposed for the newsletter and social media. Creating content for the newsletter and social media also allowed me to gain greater familiarity with the Adobe suite of products, particularly illustrator and photoshop. I am very grateful to our Marketing and Communications Officer Ryan Hall for his patience in teaching me all his tips and showing me some of the tricks.
As I mentioned, the ATN25 YEAR was celebrated through a series of events, which required a lot of initiative and a lot of collaboration. The organisation and execution of five official events throughout the year was a mammoth task for quite a small team that really showed me the importance of teamwork, clarity in our roles and delivering on tight timelines.
Without doubt, one of the highlights for me was our trip to the The University of Newcastle campus for the HDR Student Festival and ATN25 networking opportunities. We filmed interviews with students from our HDR program Frontiers and being able to work with and across multiple ATN teams, students and teams in Newcastle really put into perspective the importance of clear planning and having strong organisation in place across all parties in order to reach the same goal. It was also my first real experience with networking, including our ATN25 dinner, and being able to present yourself and your company to new people. This is something I will take forward in my career and it was a skill which I continued to use throughout the year. Then the other highlight came with the ATN25 anniversary celebration dinner in Canberra – this was one of the events I was most proud of, again working towards a strict deadline with a whole team of people and having a long list of variables in play showed me how to be adaptable and become a problem solver! The night overall was such a success and something I really enjoyed, in terms of engaging with very important people and networking, it was another time where I was quite out of my comfort zone but it was really formative for me to be in a room with people who are some of the best of the best in the sector and see how they interact and have meaningful conversations about their work. On the practical side I gained knowledge in how to produce an event from start to end including from setting up an event page, sending EDMs, monitoring responses and catering to organising table layouts on the day, slide decks and guest lists.
All these events would not have been anywhere near as enjoyable without the spectacular ATN team. My mentors in Ryan and our team leader Frank Coletta have been the most patient, attentive and helpful influences I could have asked for, they have prioritised my growth and ensuring I felt like I had a real role in ATN since the beginning. The broader ATN team has welcomed every question I’ve asked and always been willing to help or just up for a chat. I genuinely get the sense that everyone at ATN wants to make the higher education sector better for our member institutions which drives a good working culture that is cohesive and works together for the greater good.
I have truly had a wonderful year based at the ATN head office in Melbourne, had the chance to spend time in the Deakin, Sydney and Newcastle office spaces too, and I now have many memories and experiences that I will take forward with me for years to come. The next intern will be lucky to have such an opportunity to work with a fantastic team!
