Having been involved with MSE in 2018 when I was approached with the opportunity to have a paid internship with them this summer I jumped at the chance. I was excited to be able to keep utilising the skills I had developed over the first two years of my degree and extra opportunities available while at university.
When I arrived at MSE in early June, having just returned home for the summer things were going swimmingly. I was able to assist with editing videos for all social media platforms and I could clearly see the development that the company had made. MSE now has contributors from all over the UK and has even got social media ambassadors, including Olivia Greenhalgh, a growing Social Media influencer. Olivia helps MSE gain a bigger following of students doing their GCSE’s as she does study with my live streams and sharing the difficulties of doing GCSE’s in 2019. MSE have also begun to branch out from the UK, gaining contributors from the USA and India. Everything seemed so exciting and I was really getting into the flow of things.
Adjusting from University life back to living at home and taking part in an internship can always be difficult however I experienced a few more challenges than anticipated. This didn’t deter me at all, if anything it made me even more motivated to help MSE progress and put my skills to the test .
Having only been with MSE for 2 weeks I had been put in charge of the Back to School season schedule. I was working on contacting teachers to help ease the transition into GCSE’s and A Levels. I was finding a mix of videos that could be recorded in person and those that would require remote filming for teachers from schools further away from our office. I was beginning to create ideas for other videos to be interspersed with our teachers tips. A halt was put on things for me when I fell seriously ill for 3 weeks. This set back meant we had a lot less time to organise which teachers would be involved as we were also preparing for the GCSE and A Level results period. However, I was unphased. I was quickly able to re adjust to the project, discussing with members of the team that had temporarily taken over in my absence. I got in contact with the appropriate teachers, finalised the intended questions for each subject and made sure the post production process was back on track. Prioritising was key so I wouldn’t fall behind in other duties. The back to school series proved popular and helped students prepare for starting their studies again. We received many comments saying how much the videos had helped them.
Another collection of videos I produced was a series of discussions about the thoughts year 13 students were having on the lead up to attending university. This included students from around the country sharing the aspects they were excited for, preparation tips and any concerns. The videos were filmed in a video call style to give a more casual atmosphere and replicate the way a lot of students would soon be talking to their friends from back home. The series was very successful, it helped the individuals involved get things off their chest and show viewers that they aren’t the only ones feeling this way.
Alongside this I was producing content for our GCSE and A Level results periods. I contacted professionals from universities, careers advisories and the UCAS team so we could give our viewers the best information possible. It was very difficult to have people agree to being involved due to their busy schedules around this time. Despite this I was able to pre-record a series with a careers adviser, University representative and a representative from Which uni. This meant our live streams would be able to give students a professional outlook on their next steps alongside the student view our presenters were giving. I took care in briefing all individuals that agreed to work with us and devise the questions asked. The advise and tips seen in the final products seemed to be well received and elevated the quality of our content. I also managed to get in contact with someone from a mental health charity, Bright Futures. This meant students could see that they weren’t alone at this very stressful time and if they needed support we were making them aware them a great resource available.
On the lead up to the results period I was involved in the planning and post production for the release of videos sharing students reflections on their GCSE and A Level exams and looking back on some of the best post-exam reactions. Our main aim was to ease the pressure that students often feel on the lead up to opening their long awaited results. During this time I enjoyed adding more comical elements to the videos I was editing and making social media extracts to advertise our content.
The team at MSE was very small meaning we could all discuss new ideas. I think being part of such a small team gave me more responsibility and I was able to develop alongside the company. It was a very fast paced environment to ensure we were keeping up with the ways to keep our viewers engaged. My understanding of the ways that different social media platforms should be used was enhanced. Although I knew Instagram and Twitter could be a lot more ‘casual’ than platforms like Facebook viewers on Twitter often look for content to have more information and news. I have been able to overcome so many challenges and feel the experience I got with MSE is so invaluable.
Léonie Mayer 