MxAA Stipend Recipient, Atiya ’12 Stretches Herself at Jax Media

Atiya ’12 reports on her 2015 summer internship experience.

First and foremost I would like to thank the 2015 Middlesex Alumni Association Internship Stipend Committee for granting me a stipend for the summer of 2015. I used my stipend this summer to buy my monthly metro card. Though almost trivial sounding, these metro cards enabled me to not only work an internship at Jax Media, but also enabled me to work at a high end restaurant. Without this stipend and the ability to work all over the vast New York City, I would not even have come close to achieving and experiencing all I was able too this summer.

This summer I worked at a restaurant called Hillstone to supplement the high cost of living in New York City. This job accounted for almost all of the money that enabled me to live in the city, which I needed if I wanted to do any internships at all. My ability to work at Hillstone really improved my experience with Jax but also my entire work ethic at all. This was the first time that I was juggling to jobs, both of which extremely important—I was forced to grow up a bit! This summer brilliantly gave me a taste of what post graduation work and life will be.

My internship at Jax Media this summer enabled me to directly apply the studies I have learned as a film major at Wesleyan University to an actual job. I cannot even begin to describe all that I learned this summer as a production intern at Jax Media. We were able to immerse ourselves in so many areas of production—pre production, costuming, casting, being on set, and props to name a few. These opportunities are especially rare for a student of my age. Being one of eight interns at a company so successful at Jax Media enabled me to make great contacts in the field; moreover, my internship at Jax Media enabled me to narrow my interest in the field of entertainment to cinematography and casting. I have a much more clear image of where I see myself working due to my stipend from Middlesex, which will next year hopefully enable me to become an active and helpful member of the Wesleyan alumni association as well as the Middlesex Alumni Association. I now have a clear direction towards which I want to head after graduation, invaluable information to a new grad, that I partially have Middlesex to thank for.

Though it feels like just yesterday I was graduating from Middlesex, I realize now that my time their made it possible for me to have had the experiences that I have had now, both in work and at Wesleyan. If it wasn’t for the grant I received from Middlesex this summer I would not have been able to commute from job to job. I like to think that anywhere a Middlesex alum travels, so does the expansive Middlesex network, and this summer I am most proud of the fact that I genuinely believe I expanded this network. When such an opportunity as the Middlesex Summer Stipend occurs, not only do you want to seize them up, but after they catalyze your career, you want nothing more than to encourage your peers to look towards Middlesex for the same type of opportunities, and attempt to give back. Honestly, the best part of my summer was when I got to encourage and remind my fellow recent alumni to look back on our alma mater and understand the opportunities just lying their waiting to for us. I am so proud to be a zebra because the day we graduate we do not cease being apart of the Middlesex community, we merely begin it!

Again, I would like to thank the Middlesex Alumni Association for granting me an Internship Stipend for the summer of 2015, and I look forward to future as a Middlesex Zebra and a proud alumna.