(Editor’s note: This is the 12th in a series of stories about students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications completing summer internships.)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — With two majors and a handful of supporting opportunities at Penn State, senior Kristen Jan balances a lot, and she does so while working toward a specific career goal.
Jan hopes to fulfill a strategic and creative role at an advertising agency, and her decisions as an undergraduate have made that a realistic option — although her combination of majors (advertising/public relations and kinesiology) could position her for success in many roles.
This summer, Jan completed a marketing internship with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, adding nonprofit experience to her varied resume.
“When I was looking for an internship, I cast a wide net and applied to a lot of places. The foundation seemed like a good intersection of my majors,” Jan said. “Plus, as a nonprofit, it aligned with my morals." Founded in 2000, the foundation is the largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson’s research, raising more than $2 billion in search of life-improving therapies and a cure.
Jan spent her first two years at Penn State on the pre-medical track. Although she was worried about not having a heavy marketing background entering the internship, Jan’s creativity, knowledge of human health and work ethic helped her thrive in the position. In addition, the role provided real-life experience as Jan learned more about the strategy and research necessary for marketing success.
“I’m usually more on the creative side of things and the internship gave me a better understanding of all that’s involved, even with things that might not seem related to marketing,” Jan said.
Jan said the internship was an important complement to her classes. She worked a great deal with Meta Business Suite, focusing on things like organic and paid social monitoring and scheduling. She also had the opportunity to contribute to creative briefs, tarket audience surveys, write copy and more. She said seeing her work appear on the foundation’s social media channels — which garner millions of impressions across platforms — was “pretty cool” as well. Her final project centered on YouTube optimization, where she presented her findings about how the platform could be leveraged for various foundation goals, from research recruitment to policy initiatives to fundraising.
As she returns to Penn State for the fall semester, Jan will serve as an undergraduate researcher in Penn State’s Public Health and Physical Activity Laboratory, spearheading her theses on physical activity advertisements. She’s also the creative director of the PSU Culinary Medicine Club and a designer for The Nittany Group, the student team that competes in an annual nationwide challenge provided by the American Advertising Federation.
Jan’s varied experiences are not an accident. She started as a kinesiology major and then added the advertising/public relations degree. As she learned more about potential career paths, she decided she was seeking a specific combination.
“Ideally it would be a place where I can be scientific and creative at the same time,” she said.
Jan, a member of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, has honed her curious and thoughtful approach for years. She’s aware of behavioral cues and fascinated by how advertisers are always trying to move others toward an action or purchase.
"I would say that I’m definitely aware of how companies are trying to convince me to buy things,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not influenced by advertising — I’m human.”
Jan hopes to be on the other side of those interactions in the future, maybe even the near future.
For a while, she was apprehensive about her career switch from medicine to advertising, but her internship and experiences at Penn State have confirmed her love for what she does. She feels she has found her place in the world of advertising, where she can blend her “left brain and right brain” skills and interests.