Archived - 2004

SEPTEMBER 2004

Olympic Odyssey
The road to Athens

Students choose a practicum appropriate to their interests as the capstone to the MMC program, a course of study that helps prepare them to become media management professionals. The experience makes MMC graduates more successful and lets them explore a vast array of opportunities. They see not only how management communications companies work, but also evaluate the effectiveness of the specific organization for which they are working.

The 15-week practicum goes beyond an internship: Students are treated like full-time employees, work full time and complete a final report analyzing the management process of the sponsoring organization. Students stay in regular contact with the graduate office but can work anywhere, as long as they can be reached by e-mail. Some have gone to New York, Washington and Los Angeles as well as abroad.

Recent graduate Melissa Fletcher worked for six months with the U.S.
Olympic Committee for her practicum. That led to a job others can only dream about – a trip to Athens and the 2004 Olympics as press officer for one of the U.S. Olympic teams.

by Melissa Fletcher

My amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience as press officer for the U.S. Canoe/Kayak Olympic Team at the 2004 Olympic Games began at the University of South Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

As the final requirement for my Master of Mass Communication in integrated communications, I completed my dream media and public relations practicum with the United States Olympic Committee at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in California.

When I returned to South Carolina USA Canoe/Kayak’s executive director, also a USC graduate, asked me to help write and compile the media guide for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. The organization, in Charlotte, N.C., does not have a public relations director. My relationship with the athletes from my time at the training center and my background in media and public relations led to the invitation to serve as USA Canoe/Kayak's press officer in Athens.

Handling media relations for both the whitewater slalom and flatwater sprint canoe/kayak teams took all the textbook information and practical knowledge I learned in six years of undergrad and graduate school and magnified it. I had to coordinate athlete interviews, write press releases and secure coverage for the sport. Keeping up with schedules and media availability for 17 athletes and receiving 15 to 20 daily calls from reporters looking for information and interviews made for many long but rewarding days.

I particularly enjoyed publicizing the team's human-interest stories. One was about Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's interest in our team. Our slalom team leader, a former Marine, works with Veterans for Kerry. To show his support, Kerry called to wish the canoe/kayak team, along with the rest of Team USA, good luck.

Then there was the story about the wife of one of our whitewater slalom paddlers who was nine months pregnant and traveling to Greece to watch him compete. The couple had a plan if she went into labor at the Olympics. She didn't, but several media outlets interviewed them.

An amazing part of my journey was seeing Rebecca Giddens, our women’s K-1 (one-person kayak) whitewater slalom paddler, win a silver medal. After her victory, we went to two press conferences; taped interviews with NBC, MSNBC and NBC's "Today" show; and did numerous other in-person and telephone interviews. It was an amazing whirlwind of media attention, but seeing one of our athletes win a medal was the experience of a lifetime.

The opportunity to work in media relations at the Athens Olympics capped years of hard work in school, including graduate assistantships and internships. Anything is possible, and I’ve learned you must set your goals high and do everything you can to achieve your dreams. Mine came true in Athens, and the life and career lessons I learned there will never be forgotten.

Read Melissa's Olympic Diary>>