Emily Rueda is an Integrated Marketing Communication senior at Wichita State University. In the Spring 2025 semester, she experienced the behind-the-scenes aspects of social media marketing through an internship with the College of Fine Arts. Funded through WSU’s Applied Learning Fund, which provides paid, hands-on experiences in students' majors and future career fields.   

With experience from previous roles involving social media and marketing, Rueda welcomed a chance to explore this interest fully. She had previously served as a general marketing intern for a nonprofit and was concurrently working as a graphic design intern at HOPE Services, a role she still has today.  

“This experience has helped me understand what social media marketing really is. It’s a fun job, but there are also more technical skills and strategic elements involved than I expected,” Rueda said.  

During her internship, she utilized a wide range of Adobe Creative Cloud products, including Express, Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, to produce a variety of content. She was also introduced to social media management tools like Hootsuite for scheduling and Linktree for audience engagement. Additionally, Rueda advanced her photography skills with a Canon T6i Camera.  

Utilizing these tools and software, she created social media content for the College of Fine Art’s Instagram and Facebook accounts and wrote articles for their website. She quickly discovered that producing digital content also required strong writing skills.  

“Everything had drafts - videos, interviews, emails, captions, and content ideas – it was never-ending. Then, there was editing, too,” Rueda said.  

Revisions were made to everything from captions to staff and faculty features. For those, Rueda communicated, interviewed, and wrote about the College of Fine Arts staff and faculty members.  

“I got to meet some passionate people here at Wichita State,” Rueda said. “Hearing where their passion had taken them—and continues to take them—made me more confident in pursuing my own creative passions, even just as hobbies.”  

Her coursework from that semester reinforced the concepts she had learned during her internship. Enrolled in Ad Copywriting and Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies during the Spring 2025 semester, Rueda learned about marketing strategies and effective copywriting for various media forms. Her work from these classes and her internship created the basis of her portfolio and resume.  

“I’m so glad for this applied learning experience,” she said. “It gave me real-world exposure to a creative career path and helped me better understand the role social media plays in strategic marketing.”  

Now in her final semester, Rueda is continuing to build on this experience. Along with her position at HOPE Services, she recently joined the Shocker Career Accelerator as their Applied Learning Story Intern, where she’s gaining an even broader view of the marketing field.  

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Wichita State's applied learning program gives students hands-on, paid experience with industry partners, helping them build careers before graduation.

For more information, contact the Shocker Career Accelerator at (316) 978-3688, SCA@wichita.edu, or visit wichita.edu/Career. You can also stop by in person at the Marcus Welcome Center, Suite 139, on the Wichita State campus.