Shelby Kua

“I am a third-year student majoring in English and Screen Production. I decided to study a Bachelor of Arts because I realised that I am an artistic person and I’ve been drawn to the creative arts my whole life. I decided to pursue a BA in hopes of exploring the field of creative writing and ended up discovering other aspects of the arts that I loved.

“What I have enjoyed the most in my majors is the chance to thoroughly analyse works of creators that I would have never discovered on my own. It has helped me grow in my craft.

“When I graduate, I’d love to go into the film/video production industry as an editor or writer. I’m also interested in theatre and creative writing.

“As part of my bachelors degree I did an internship with Junk Run, a waste management company. I was part of the Talking Trash project, which is a mini web series that aims to educate the public on how to manage and dispose of waste responsibly. Alongside another intern, I filmed and edited the videos. This meant having weekly production meetings, going on site to film locations and interviews and editing the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro.

“Junk Run was an incredibly nurturing environment, my mentors were very focused on building us up and providing the support we needed in our learning. Interning there was fast-paced, busy but also super fun. The stakes did feel a lot higher compared to being at university, but that made the work we produced feel even more satisfying.

“My biggest takeaway from working at Junk Run was that being adaptable is key! Not everything goes according to plan - and that’s totally okay. You just have to be quick on your feet and be creative in problem solving within the limits and resources that you have.

“I got to apply and develop technical skills that I learned in Screen Production to produce and execute the vision that the Junk Run team had, and that felt like a big achievement. Critical thinking was also an important skill that I put to use during my internship. Being able to process situations instinctually really helped with interacting and collaborating in a team with diverse experience and ideas, as well as facing challenges that inevitably come up in any project.

“If you are thinking about applying for the internship course, please do it if you can! This paper will give you tons of invaluable workplace experience and you will have amazing support from the course coordinators. It will help you orient yourself in the strange and utterly different “real world”. You’ll get to test the waters in your desired field and understand yourself better by experientially learning how you would manage time, stress and life in general in the workplace - all while being in a safe space to fail.”