Rockdale’s City Hall has two new faces this summer with marketing interns Sonja Rubio and Jason Winkler at the offices.
“I was able to hire two interns for the summer,” said Curah Beard, Marketing Director for the City of Rockdale. “They’ve assisted me in helping reach my primary goals which are to increase hotel stays, grow existing events and bring new events to Rockdale and promote Rockdale to the outside world.
“There are a lot of things we have to do in order to achieve those goals,” she said.
RUBIO—Rubio, a Rock-dale High School junior, has spent her time compiling information that is useful to promoting Rockdale.
“I’ve typed the information of organizations that plan conferences and seminars into spreadsheets and made a list of wineries that the Chamber of Commerce can use for November’s wine event,” she said.”
“I’ve also helped create welcome packets for the softball tournament attendees with information about restaurants and different things to do around town,” Rubio said.
Beard said Rubio’s internship was funded by a grant from the Central Texas Council of Government’s Development District program.
“I hope to get more experience and learn new things from my internship.” Rubio said.
WINKLER—Winkler, a Texas A&M senior, has designed a digital media kit, also known as an electronic information packet, for the City of Rockdale that businesses can see.
“When I got here in March, I had nothing I could send to businesses to promote Rockdale,” Beard said. “Jason’s designed a media kit that businesses can see.”
“I’ve created a catalogue of venues and resources that Rockdale has to offer to promote potential events,” Winkler said. “This will help us bring in tourism and increase overnight stays.
“I’ve created signage for the Whistlestop Wine Tour and have designed a lot of logos. I’ve also made ads for the fall music festival that the city can give to potential sponsors and attendees,” he added.
Winkler hopes to gain hands on experience from his summer internship with the city.
“I’m wanting to gain experience in communication,” he said. “Because it’s one thing to be in a classroom learning, but it’s another to actually do the work.
“I think learning in real time is much different and very valuable,” he added.
SPONSORS—Winkler’s internship is funded by hotel occupancy tax funds as approved by the city council in May and was hired after council member Richard Coppedge put Beard in contact with A&M’s Agricultural Communication Department and found Winkler, a Lexington native.
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