Communications Associates Program

Learning Objectives

• Creative Collaboration: Students will gain experience brainstorming as a team, pitching original ideas and sharing their perspective as we explore how their ideas contribute to our overall Kenyon social media strategy.

• Project Management: Students will practice managing video projects from beginning to end, writing and submitting creative briefs, coordinating with other team members to capture content, meeting tight deadlines and staying organized while balancing multiple projects.

• Social Media Engagement and Analysis: Students will identify the factors that go into creating a successful video, analyze insights from our past and current social media projects and learn about how our team works behind the scenes to execute video projects from start to finish.

• Visual Storytelling: Students will have the opportunity to shape how Kenyon stories are told through the development of a video project from the idea stage through final production.

• Interpersonal and Interview Skills: Students will practice interviewing students and other members of the campus community while capturing video content for our social media channels.

Responsibilities

Primarily appearing in content for Kenyon’s social media channels, digital content hosts deliver content on camera, both in vlog-style and videographer-filmed videos, for various topics shared by the Office of Communications. Assignments will be shared on an ongoing basis, with emphasis on videos documenting the student experience. Examples may include campus tours, student interviews, and event coverage. This role is also collaborative, giving the digital content host a platform to pitch their own ideas for sharing an authentic representation of campus life.

The communications associates meet monthly as a group in Sparrow House to review editorial strategy, share progress on projects, pitch new ideas and hear from visiting experts. Students will meet with their individual supervisor on a weekly basis.

Application and Selection Process

Enthusiastic and charismatic sophomore, junior and senior students interested in appearing in video content for Kenyon’s social media and communications channels are encouraged to apply for the digital content host position.

Students are invited to apply on a semester basis via Handshake, where they are asked to submit a resume, cover letter and 60-90 second video that showcases their creativity and presence on camera.

For questions about the role or application process, please contact the position supervisor, Sydney Orrison Keller, at orrison1@kenyon.edu.

Learning Objectives

• Creative Collaboration: Students will gain experience brainstorming as a team, pitching original ideas and learning how to improve their own creative work.

• Visual Storytelling: Students will have the opportunity to tell stories about Kenyon people, places and events as photojournalists and documentarians.

• Technical Skills: Students should come to the position with an interest in learning more about photography — including framing a scene, operating a digital SLR camera and using available light. On-the-ground, practical experience will give students the ability to practice and enhance these technical skills.

Responsibilities

Photographers will attend occasional team meetings to pitch ideas and discuss their work and are expected to capture a selection of photos at least biweekly to share with Kenyon’s communications team. Assignments will be shared on an ongoing basis, with emphasis on event coverage and slice-of-life photography documenting the student experience. Photographers will be able to choose assignments and pitch their own.

The communications associates meet monthly as a group in Sparrow House to review editorial strategy, share progress on projects, pitch new ideas and hear from visiting experts.

Application and Selection Process

Students with an interest in photography and storytelling through imagery are encouraged to apply for the photographer position.

For questions about the role or application process, please contact the position supervisor, Adam Gilson, at gilsona@kenyon.edu.

Learning Objectives

• Pre-production and Planning: Scheduling and planning shoots, coordinating with subjects, working with staff to reserve/clear spaces for shoots, building shot-lists, etc.

• On-set Technical Skills: Operate camera(s) with proper manual settings, set up and utilize lighting equipment when necessary, set up and utilize audio equipment, (lav mics, boom mics, zoom recorders) to ensure proper clear audio recordings. 

• Post-Production: Proper file transfer and organization, rough cuts of video edits in Davinci Studio, audio syncing and level management, basic color grading/correction.

Responsibilities

Videographers will be assigned on a project-by-project basis to capture video content for the Office of Communications, typically for Kenyon’s social media platforms. 

Students will be provided equipment (cameras, microphones, lights, etc.) necessary for each project after a pre-production meeting to determine what will be necessary. Content will most often be vertical and designed to live on a social media platform. Students will learn best practices to create engaging content, including effective hooks, strong shot selection, and clear audio. Students will work with the Office of Communications to ease transfer and organization of these files before the editing process begins. Students may do first cuts, rough edits, or color correction if interested.

The communications associates meet monthly as a group in Sparrow House to review editorial strategy, share progress on projects, pitch new ideas and hear from visiting experts. 

Application and Selection Process

Students with an interest in film and videography are encouraged to apply for the videographer position.

For questions about the role or application process, please contact the position supervisor, Sam Chafe, at chafe3@kenyon.edu.

Learning Objectives

• Technical Platform Expertise: The web assistant receives training and gains experience using multiple platforms including: BigTree, kenyon.edu’s content management system; SiteImprove, a digital accessibility monitoring tool; Canto, Kenyon’s photography database; and other software as needed.

• Research, Editing, Creative Formatting: Web assistant tasks include digital research projects, editing images and text, and determining creative and user-friendly approaches to formatting online content.

• Project Management: The web assistant manages web-related projects that involve research, content creation, page-building, accessibility monitoring and search engine optimization.

Responsibilities

The web assistant uses Kenyon’s content management system (CMS), to post and edit content on the main College website and microsites including the Alumni Magazine.

Typical assignments include editing and creating new webpages, updating the website events calendar and employee directory, resizing images, proofreading, archiving content and assisting other CMS users on campus.

The assistant also works with Kenyon’s digital accessibility monitoring platform and contributes to search engine keyword research and content analysis to improve the discoverability of Kenyon's online content.

The communications associates meet monthly as a group in Sparrow House to review editorial strategy, share progress on projects, pitch new ideas and hear from visiting experts. 

Application and Selection Process

Students interested in assisting with website development and management projects are encouraged to apply for the web assistant position.

For questions about the role or application process, please contact the position supervisor, Emily Lindo, at lindoe@kenyon.edu.