Intern Onboarding

Introduction to the Internship

(~25 minutes)

Lesson Framing & Purpose:

Students begin their internship by assisting an account executive on an ongoing campaign. The executive will introduce interns to the various aspects of designing a campaign and the tools used by PurpleState by having them complete a series of tasks.

• Students will get familiarized with the PurpleState tools, including polling data, an interactive map, and a campaign simulator.
• Students will be introduced to the different steps needed to design a campaign to prepare them to design their own.
• As the teacher, you are playing the role of the account manager. Please try to sell the simulation as real to students.
• Try to remember, within the simulation, you are no longer their teacher, you are the supervisor also employed by PurpleState.
• Try to avoid language such as, “they want us to” or “We’re supposed to”. Instead try to use language such as, “PurpleState needs us to” or , “As interns, your job is to…”

Resources:

Reflective Questions:

• What is an intern?
• What does a political communications firm do?
• What do you know about political communications and the media already?

Learning Activities:

Intro Video (~10 Minutes)

• Play corporate-style (PurpleState Intro Video) welcoming students to the internship from their boss at PurpleState
• Suggested Dialogue
• “What do you think an internship is?”
• “What kind of work do political communications firm do?”
• “Over the next [time frame] we will be learning about the role of media in politics and how groups seek to engage people in the state on controversial or important issues”
• “The goal of this simulation is to help us be more informed citizens who can engage effectively on issues you care about”

Welcome Letter (15 Minutes)

• Share the Welcome Letter with students welcoming them to their internship with an overview of overall experience. This letter will also explain how to use the Student Intern ID.

Implementation Tips:

• This is a good opportunity to introduce the concept that the “company” does not endorse one or the other political party, but works on behalf of all sorts of clients, just as many real-life firms do. In Wisconsin, the sample campaign asks interns to help on a congressional campaign for a Republican candidate. In Virginia, the sample congressional campaign asks interns to help on a campaign for a Democratic candidate.