Loyola School of Mass Communication Senior Mary Staes is turning her multimedia training from SMC classes into opportunities for unique internships.

The New Orleans native was selected as an intern to cover the Excellence in Journalism 2015 conference in Orlando from Sept. 17-Sept. 21. 15 student journalists were chosen from more than 60 applicants to staff the EIJ newsroom.

The conference was a joint collaboration between the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), the National Association of Hispanic Journalists(NAHJ), and the Radio Television Digital News Association(RTDNA). Loyola has recently charted a new chapter of RTDNA.

Interns got to the conference a day early, but that didn’t mean there was any shortage of work. Conference attendees were treated to the Food and Wine Festival at Disney’s Epcot center. Mary interviewed media professionals about what sessions of the conference they were looking forward to and got a chance to use new social media to broadcast the evening’s events.

Conference coverage involved more than the usual print articles and photos. Interns used unconventional videos and different social media apps to cover sessions. Mary broadcasted a session with Periscope, used Slack for newsroom collaboration efforts, and Snapchatted scenes from different sessions that were going on at the same time.

The internship also offered networking opportunities. Recruiters from media organizations like Hearst and Sinclair Broadcasting met with the interns to offer advice about what they are looking for in job candidates.

Mary’s career goal is to become a television news producer. She made multiple connections at the conference that will help her in her job search, as well as sharpening her skill set.