Megan Fitzgerald, associate professor and communication program director in the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, went to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis’s office last summer to write a story about him for OutClique Magazine. She left the office with an idea for an internship exclusively for NSU students.
Trantalis told Fitzgerald he wanted to create a communication internship program at the mayor’s office.
“Giving opportunities to our students to learn and grow in any industry is crucial for preparing them to meet the challenges of our modern workforce,” Trantalis said. “I wanted to open the door for students who may not have had this kind of chance before, and hopefully inspire them to pursue a career in public service.”
Fitzgerald worked with DCMA and the mayor’s office to establish the internship.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for NSU students,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s a high profile opportunity for students to get really hands-on experience.”
COURTESY OF SCOTT WYMAN Bella Giaquinto, senior communication major, reviews the weekly schedule with Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis and Zachary Eakins-Durand, community outreach director for the mayor’s office.
Shanti Bruce, chair of DCMA, was excited when Fitzgerald initiated the idea.
“I’m grateful that the mayor’s office is giving NSU students this opportunity, and I am confident our students will exceed their expectations,” Bruce said.
The internship, which involves social media management and public relations, accepts one student every fall, winter and summer semester. The intern has the opportunity to work directly alongside Trantalis and his team.
Bella Giaquinto, senior communication major and sports editor for The Current, is completing the internship this semester. Her days consist of sitting in on meetings, creating the social media calendar and going to events to get social media content for Trantalis’s Instagram, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter. One of her biggest projects has been introducing Instagram reels to the mayor’s page.
The internship can be completed for credit by enrolling in COMM 4950. Giaquinto is gaining a lot from the experience.
“You get a lot of engagement. You meet a lot of new people when you go to all the events. It’s basically like you’re going to a networking event every time,” she said. “You start to see similar faces all the time, and you can really build relationships with people and start to get to know them.”
She especially appreciates how integrated she is into the office’s daily activities.
“There’s not really anything that I’m excluded from. They want you to really be involved,” she said. “If someone is coming to pitch an idea to the mayor, we sit in on that so we can hear it.”
Giaquinto works alongside Zachary Eakins-Durand, community outreach director for the mayor’s office, three days a week.
“We like to really rely on what [students] are learning in school to help inform us so that we can really uplift Mayor Trantalis’s message for Fort Lauderdale,” Eakins-Durand said.
He said that interns get a behind-the-scenes look at local government and how Fort Lauderdale runs, while gaining diverse skills.
“For anyone who is a student, you’re going to get a behind-the-scenes look as well as a forward-facing opportunity to see government in action. Engaging with the public is a skill that our interns will get to see. We like to be sure that this is an opportunity that is as hands-on as possible,” he said. “We give interns the opportunity to come to city commission meetings, ground-breaking ribbon cuttings and all the events that go on that the elected leadership is asked to go to. We always will invite our interns to partake and observe, and I think through those on-the-ground field trips is where most of the growth occurs for all of us.”
Madison Hurtado, senior communication major, completed the internship last semester during its first run. She said that although she usually leans toward entertainment public relations work, this experience in the political realm helped expand her resume.
“It definitely helped me learn a different industry. I’m not really affiliated with politics. I’ve never considered doing that, so it definitely enhanced my professionalism, and it allowed me to build my networking skills,” she said. “It allowed me to grow my skills within inbox management and calendar management. With the social posts that I had to do, I also practiced my editing skills on a lot of photos. My creativity was enhanced.”
Fitzgerald said the internship is beneficial to all communication majors, regardless of whether their concentrations are in journalism, strategic communication or digital media production. It’s also open to non-communication majors who may be interested.
“There is a lot of overlap between strategic communication and journalism. So even if someone is not interested in going into public relations, you still need to be a strong writer to work in the mayor’s office as part of the mayor’s communication team, and be able to take notes and do interviews,” she said. “So I think there’s room really across the three concentrations, but I also think it’s an opportunity that might be of interest to political science majors, or English majors or history.”
Interested students should reach out to Fitzgerald at mf821@nova.edu.
Eakins-Durand is excited to continue the program with NSU students.
“We hope that this is a fruitful and ongoing partnership well into the mayor’s final term,” he said.
Megan Fitzgerald is Mako Media Network’s faculty advisor.
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