In the past 16 of my 20 years in business, I’ve supervised over 30 interns, many of them from Westfield State, my alma mater. The majority of these young and capable students have come to me via Michael Filas, an English professor and the internship coordinator for the English department at the university.

Michael has been involved with the internship program for about 10 years, so we could say he’s sent about 20 of the 30 interns to me. This semester, he referred interns Colleen Looby and Nick St. Pierre to me. I asked Colleen to interview Michael—Professor Filas to her—about what it’s been like for him to work with Beetle Press over the years.

When interns come to me each semester, I teach them about writing press releases and blogs, and editing client’s manuscripts—and sometimes my own, if I have one in the works. Part of this writing work also involves learning what to ask during an interview and interview technique. I also like to take interns to live events as well, so they can learn to interact with professionals.

Michael likes to place students with Beetle Press for this range of experience. “Students do a combination of creative and public relations work with Janice,” he said. “It’s a unique opportunity that the students get to experience. She also gives students the opportunity to write and have their writing published and circulated in a public domain.”

He also values that I often offer students freelance work after the internship is over. Several students—Shannon Grossman and Shelby Ashline—still work for me years after they interned with me.

Mentoring students is very gratifying for Michael. “I like seeing students develop skills that are ‘money skills’ that will take them far,” he said. “I know that I’m helping them in a concrete way to move forward in their career.”

Michael has a bachelor’s degree in business management from California State University at Long Beach, a master of fine arts degree in fiction writing from San Diego State University, and he has a doctoral degree in American literature and culture from the University of Washington.

I didn’t hear much from Michael in the past few years, as he took on the role of interim associate dean of the Westfield State Experience, which helps get first-year students involved on campus and in the community. I collaborated with a colleague of Michael’s instead, George Layng.

In addition to serving as a professor and dean, Michael has also worked for a Fortune 100 company on accounting software, and as a technical writer in the software industry. He has also worked as a carpenter, computer programmer, middle manager in the aerospace industry, a janitor, and even had his own cabinet and furniture making business a couple of years out of high school.

Michael offers a key part of the internship experience. While I help mentor students in growing their skill-set, he is also building their confidence and professionalism. Colleen says Professor Filas has been a huge asset in helping her with her writing minor. “I’m looking forward to taking his Advanced Prose class in my last semester of college this spring,” she says.

My other intern for the fall semester, Nick, holds similar regards towards Professor Filas. “I admire his attention to the minutiae of quality writing,” Nick says. “Professor Filas taught me to slow down and really think about the importance of each sentence.”

At the end of each semester, the students and I sit down with Michael to discuss the learnings, as well as any challenges that arose. We had a great meeting in December with Colleen and Nick. Toward the end, we discussed the intern candidate for spring. That is our cycle of learning.

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The beginning of the fall semester signaled another beginning for Beetle Press in that two new interns came on board in September. They are Colleen Looby, a senior at Westfield State University, and Nicholas “Nick” St. Pierre, also a senior at my alma mater.

I interviewed both students in the summer. What I usually look for in the interviews is not skill or experience but hutzpah, and I felt they both had it. Nick had a lot of energy and excitement about all facets of the work—from the creative writing and editing pieces to developing press releases and blogs. Colleen had a quiet confidence and a deep interest in several manuscripts I am working on.

Let me introduce Colleen and Nick to you.

Meet Colleen

Colleen is a communication major and writing minor at Westfield State. This is her second internship, having worked last summer as a marketing intern at Building Engines in Boston, where she learned much about the world of software creation.

The Beetle Press internship interested Colleen because she loves to write and hopes to one day develop a series of books. So far, in addition to various broad-scope tasks, she has helped to copyedit a manuscript that is now in the design phase, contribute to social media posts for Beetle Press and JaniceBeetle.com, and she has written a press release for TEDxEasthamptonWomen.

Colleen became interested in being an editor in high school. “I thought this internship would help me learn how to bring a manuscript to life and could also expose me to talking with different people and listening to more of their stories,” she says.

One new learning for Colleen has been interviewing people for blogs and press releases. “It can be a little nerve-wracking when you’re not used to it,” she says, adding, “Although, it’s more likely that the person on the other end of the phone is a lot more nervous.”

Colleen’s dream career is to be an editor at a book publishing company. Once she graduates, she would be interested in a writing job and is considering journalism (my roots) as well.

Meet Nick

Nick originally pursued the idea of teaching English at the secondary level, but his experiences early on in his college career persuaded him to follow a different road.

Focusing now on becoming a better writer—creatively and professionally—Nick has narrowed the concentration of his degree to writing.  Following this path is what led him to become one of my interns.

Nick has experience with business and technical writing, but he says that “the work I’ll be doing for Beetle Press is going to provide me with some serious experience in the professional writing world.”  He also is helping to ready a client manuscript for publication, and he has done several research projects for Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, and written several press releases and blogs based on interviews he conducted.

Nick learned about the Beetle Press internship from Michael Filas, one of Nick’s Westfield State professors. Nick expressed an interest in developing his skills in the realms of public relations and freelance writing, and Michael suggested interning at Beetle Press as the perfect opportunity.

Nick hopes he will gain a variety of knowledge and skills that will prove useful later in his career as a writer, and he knows Beetle Press is the place to cultivate such tools.  “I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to grow as a writer,” he says.

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