Choices? Nah, telecommunications major seeks as many opportunities as possible

Editor’s Note: This is the ninth in a series of articles about students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications completing summer internships.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ask Abby Kachur to pick something — maybe a place to attend college, or even to choose between a couple of summer internship options — and she’s likely to change the rules of the game.

Never mind a singular option. She strives to achieve more.

That’s how she decided on Penn State, she said, and it’s how she’s staying busy this summer.

“When I came to Penn State, I was leaning more toward teaching, but I knew I needed a school that had everything because I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do and might change my mind. Penn State has that big-school feeling and the support of a small school,” Kachur said. “Then, once I declared a major, there were all these resources available to me.”

Kachur, a rising senior from Pittsburgh, eventually selected telecommunications and media industries as her major. Along with crafting success in the classroom, she’s been an active member of CommRadio, serving as the outlet’s social media manager and a photographer for nearly three years. She also hosted her own DJ show on CommRadio and added to the outlet’s growing library of podcasts. Plus, she worked with PSN-TV, the student-driven TV network, an endeavor she said hopes to broaden in the upcoming academic year.

This summer, she’s completing an internship as a videographer with the Science-U camps conducted by the Eberly College of Science at Penn State. 

When she first discovered the opportunity, thanks to one of the many regular emails from Assistant Dean Bob Martin in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, she overlooked it. When she looked more closely, though, she realized it was a combination of two things she enjoyed — video production and summer camps. She had been a camp counselor at the Sewickley Valley YMCA for three years in high school.

Every week of Science-U offers a similar though slightly different challenge as the age of participants and scientific focus of the camps changes. She’s responsible for shooting and editing a video each week, as well as sharing the video on YouTube.

Kachur has freedom to find the best way to share the story of camp each week — and she does it well.

“Her attention to detail and ability to see the bigger picture have been invaluable. She’s able to take five days’ worth of camp and distill it down to a three- to five-minute video while still capturing the camp magic and learning that occur at Science-U,” said Caitlin Teti, director of the Office of Science Research. “She also leans into the personalities of the campers and is able to showcase them well.

“Abby clearly takes a great deal of pride in her work. She attends the closing ceremony, where the videos are shared with campers and their families and sees their reactions to her video. I have no doubt she uses their reactions to refine future projects and her extra attention to detail is incredible.”

A series of camps running almost daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for eight weeks might be enough for some people, but not Kachur.

She secured a second internship — serving as a social media intern for Bellefonte-based Hello Social, a social media management and strategy agency.

The different opportunities offer complementary schedules and different responsibilities. With Hello Social Kachur often helps with special events and marketing activations.

The combined experiences have kept her busy — and motivated to find more ways to combine skills and improve her communications efforts.

“I always want to be doing different things and there’s always room to learn more,” Kachur said. With Science-U, there’s a lot of video production, which is something I had not done as much since high school. But I picked up a camera and started to do my best and re-learn.

“The social media opportunity is just a little different from what I do for myself. It’s a fun hobby and you’re going to meet a lot of people at fun events.”

None of the experiences or internships has helped Kachur finalize one focus for her career, though. She believes her versatility, including taking an advanced production class this fall, will be a strength after she graduates from Penn State next May.

“Things are still a little up in the air, but I’m someone who’s very adaptable. I have a lot of experience and versatility. Graduating with a communications degree means I could be pulled in different directions and I’m OK with that. I’m looking forward to what’s next.”

Most likely, what’s ahead for Kachur offers more than one option — and she’ll try to choose them all.