associate professor, Department of Communication, 308-325-1111 or brownr@unk.edu
Christopher Araujo, a University of Nebraska at Kearney advertising major from Lexington, has been selected for an summer internship with McCann-Erickson advertising agency in New York City.
As one of the select university students across the nation chosen for the Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) Class of 2006, Araujo will begin his internship June 2. He will work in the broadcast production department.
Araujo was chosen earlier this year as one of the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Minority Students in Advertising. He received an all-expenses paid trip to New York City to accept the award. While there, he met with recruiters and toured ad agencies. One of the agencies whose representatives he visited with was McCann-Erickson of New York City, which has selected him for the MAIP internship.
An advertising major with a visual communications and design minor, Araujo has been involved in producing many of the promotional materials for student organizations at UNK. Araujo, a member of Ad/PR Club and Students in Mass Media, is on the advertising staff for The Antelope student newspaper and manages the promotional activities for LPAC events.
“This was the second year that Chris applied for this internship, so he knew more what to expect, although the main issue is always finding time to produce the material to submit,” said Dr. Ruth Brown, associate professor of communication.
“His persistence paid off and is a testament to what I see as an important quality that Chris possesses – his focus on the future, which involves learning from every project, every assignment, and constantly striving to improve already excellent material.”
The MAIP program encourages African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American, and multiracial and multiethnic college students to strongly consider advertising as a career. Students chosen for this program gain practical work experience, establish contacts and are prepared to assume an entry-level position with an agency upon graduation.
The main goal of MAIP is to attract talented multicultural students to advertising and keep them in the business.
Each summer, qualified undergraduate and graduate students are selected from colleges and universities nationwide for 10-week paid internships at AAAA member agencies in various U.S. cities. Since 1973, more than 1,600 students have participated in this program.
This year marks MAIP’s largest class of interns. The program has placed 106 interns in 18 cities at 54 AAAA member-agency offices across the nation. New opportunities for MAIP participants this year include the Clarence Holte Memorial Intern of the Year Award, which honors the best MAIP intern, and the Ornelas Advertising Scholarship Fund, a $5,000 scholarship awarded to the top Hispanic MAIP intern.
