[vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]If you’re just tuning in to the Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation blog, Well Said, you join us at a great time. All summer, I’ll be posting about the ins and outs of the oil and gas industry and Cabot’s hand in the growing field. Join me, Samantha Scribner, a senior public relations major at Waynesburg University, this summer as I blog about what I’m learning at Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I didn’t enroll at Waynesburg University as a PR student, but rather, as a journalism major. Within the first week of classes my freshman year, I realized that my writing skills could be paired with other skill sets such as researching, speaking, organizing and visualizing to meet the demands of a related field: public relations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]In six semesters at Waynesburg, I’ve become deeply involved in every campus organization, University job and extra curricular activity necessary to become a leading PR student at the University and a knowledgeable, well-rounded new-hire. I’ve helped to charter a chapter of a national PR organization and plan social media campaigns, special and annual events and fundraisers for various clients. By attending national public relations meetings and industry conferences and seminars, I’ve had the benefit of learning alongside professionals and have networked with hundreds of PR students across the country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]In short, I’ve learned enough that Cabot decided to hire me as their External Affairs Intern for the summer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Applying at Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation seemed like a long shot. I didn’t know very much about the oil and gas industry, I didn’t know if I could find a temporary home in the city and I didn’t even know if “external affairs” meshed with my PR background. (For the record – it does, perfectly.)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]What I did know is that I wanted to learn. I discovered quickly during my interview that I wouldn’t serve as the typical desk intern who fills coffee orders and waters the office plants. I will work with intelligent, strategic and experienced professionals who would give me responsibility and expect me to grow along the way. At Cabot, I’ll gain hands-on experience in the PR field, starting with monitoring our social media presence and contributing to this blog. I also have the opportunity to work with local media, maintain a press clip book and create my own editorial calendar for our social media accounts. Throughout the summer, I will learn about the fast-paced nature of external affairs in a corporate atmosphere by participating in conference calls, company meetings and industry events.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]I also knew that I wanted to be challenged. I could have looked for a non-profit PR, a healthcare PR or a higher education PR internship, but that wouldn’t have been as much of a challenge. Though I certainly haven’t mastered those avenues, I have experienced them during my time at Waynesburg. A new PR discipline, one that held its own unique challenges, is what I wanted.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The challenge of representing a sometimes controversial but often misrepresented industry is one that I look to embrace. PR is about telling the story of your client. I want to help give a voice to the oil and gas industry, which has seen so much unwarranted bad press and opinions ignorant of the facts. I want to tell the story of an industry that provides thousands of jobs to a nation in need and a clean alternative to an earth swallowed by toxins.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]While I use my database of PR skills and experience to tell this story, I will add social media, reputation management, event planning, crisis communication and corporate PR understanding to that database. Working at Cabot will give me the opportunity to sit back and listen to incredibly intelligent engineers and geologists discuss the oil and gas issues that define the industry, and then communicate those issues to the public.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]When I return to Waynesburg for a final semester in August, I will hope to have learned the tricky oil and gas jargon that makes me stop and say “Wait, what?” during conversations with our drilling department. I hope to learn about corporate public relations and the exciting, unique culture that comes with that atmosphere. I hope to learn how experts factually and passionately represent the industry in the face of frequent criticism, and I hope to shed light on a field that I’ve already, in just one week, become very invested in.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Follow our blog this summer to watch my progress and to learn with me about the oil and gas industry and Cabot’s leadership in the field. If you’re interested in becoming an external affairs intern at Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation, I’m pleased to announce that Cabot will now accept rolling admissions at [email protected]. I can already see that I’ll love it and I bet that you’ll love it, too.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row animation=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Samantha Scribner, External Affairs Intern for Cabot[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]