Meet the 2020-2021 University Housing Marketing Intern – Lydia Shaloka

My name is Lydia Shaloka, and I was the marketing intern for University Housing & Conference Services from May 2020 to May 2021. Being the marketing intern helped me learn more about the department and all of the work that goes into making the residence halls as incredible as they are. I gained valuable experience creating marketing content, analyzing marketing data, and working with others from my department, outside of my department, and even outside of MU. I am so grateful for this experience and believe it has helped me grow both professionally and personally.

What did you learn about marketing and blogging?

This internship provided me with the opportunity to apply what I was learning in my marketing courses in real-world scenarios and gain a lot of new knowledge about marketing as well. I learned much more about how to use social media sites like Instagram and Twitter for marketing purposes. Additionally, I gained valuable experience using Google Analytics to analyze marketing data and understand how it can be used to improve the effectiveness of our marketing efforts. I also learned how important effective marketing is, particularly in the higher education field.

The changes and challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic meant the University Housing department needed to be able to quickly communicate important information to both current and incoming students and their parents. I learned how to communicate this information by creating quality content that delivered a consistent message across all platforms. Housing’s marketing efforts have helped keep the Millersville University community safe throughout this pandemic, and I was honored to be a part of those efforts.

Prior to this internship, I had very little blogging experience. I learned so much about how to create quality blog posts and how to maintain a WordPress blog site. I also learned that blogs can be a very beneficial marketing tool.

What did you learn about yourself?

I learned that I really enjoy graphic design! I created graphics for our social media sites and the blog using Canva, a graphic design software. I also designed flyers that were hung in the residence halls and small cards that were distributed to students. I really enjoyed getting the chance to be creative and coming up with concepts for different marketing materials.

What is your favorite blog post that you wrote?

I liked writing blog posts that were creative and entertaining to read but that were also informative. One of my favorites is The ABC’s of Millersville University.  I went through the alphabet and wrote something about Millersville that started with each letter. Finding something for X and Z were tricky but I made it work! I also really liked writing the post, True or False: How Much Do You Know About Millersville’s History? I liked writing this post because I learned some fun facts about Millersville in the process.

I also liked one of my more informative posts, Should You Declare a Minor? I felt like this post contained useful information and doing research for it also helped me when I was deciding whether or not I should declare a minor. Another informative post I really enjoyed writing was What I Wish I Knew My Freshman Year. This post gave me the chance to reflect on my freshman year at Millersville and hopefully help other incoming freshman know what to expect.

What was your most memorable project?

My most memorable project was coming up with various events to hold in anticipation of room selection. We hosted Among Us games, Bingo, Jeopardy, and more. We gave away various prizes to students who participated in the events. I enjoyed this project because I got to collaborate with some amazing members of the Housing team for it and saw firsthand how we were able to host engaging and fun events virtually. Plus, who doesn’t love giveaways?

What are your plans for the future?

I am going to be working as a Marketing Specialist for Freedom Mortgage. I hope to continuing blogging on my personal blog site and mainly write about the things I’m passionate about, such as marketing and food.

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