By Kyla McMullen and Nate Schultz

Department senior Claire McCormick, second from left, and other interns at MSNBC this summer

Working promotional booths at the Country Music Association awards, booking celebrities and public figures for a primetime news talk show, and attending to sponsors at ESPN's ESPY Awards and summer X Games were all part of the schedules of three department students who had internships this summer with high-profile organizations.

Emily Hambidge, Johnny LeBlanc and Claire McCormick used a lot of persistence to obtain the internships of their dreams.

LeBlanc, a senior in general communication, worked for ESPN's sponsorship management department at many of the sports cable network's events. He not only helped create revenue for ESPN by bringing in sponsors such as Taco Bell and Coca-Cola, but he helped keep sponsors happy by ensuring their logos received camera time during events. He said 75 percent of the work at ESPN involves getting sponsors and keeping them happy.

He endured a series of 12 interviews and beat out thousands of other applicants for the position. He is the first person from Purdue to intern at ESPN.

Johnny LeBlanc on the ESPN set

LeBlanc said he loved his summer internship for a variety of reasons, but one big reason was that executives came in weekly to share their experiences with the interns. He also got the opportunity to network, which he said will come in handy when he graduates in December.

The highlight of his summer came when he got to go to Los Angeles for 10 days to assist with the summer X Games. He got to meet pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and snowboarder Shawn White and attend parties where he met celebritites like rocker Dave Navarro.

McCormick, a senior in journalism, interned in New York with MSNBC's "Scarborough Fair" program. The show is hosted by Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, and airs during primetime on the network. Each week, Scarborough interviews different prominent people from the headlines, as well as covering different human interest stories.

McCormick said a typical day for her depended on the news. After a general meeting in the morning to formulate ideas for the show, she would attend an afternoon meeting for hard booking and figuring out what the show's topic would be. She not only did research and assisted with booking, she also got to help write scripts, edit tapes and work in the control room. Another big job of McCormick's was to pre-interview guests. Depending on the guests' responses, she would then tell Scarborough which questions to ask during the actual show that would illicit the most interesting answers.

When McCormick pitched a show featuring former wrestler and current reality TV star Hulk Hogan, she was rewarded with the producer spot for that segment.

McCormick said she sent out 16 applications for summer internships and received three callbacks. She chose MSNBC over ABC and FOX.

While McCormick and LeBlanc took the Big Apple by storm, Hambidge moved south to Nashville, Tenn. Hambidge interned at Alday Communications, a large public relations firm.

Hambidge in downtown Nashville

Hambidge's major assignment was to ensure press coverage of the PGA's "Play Golf America" campaign events across the country. At these events, professionals conduct free clinics and help sessions to try and get youth interested in golf. It was Hambidge's job to write news releases and contact local media about coverage of the events.

Using her Purdue connections, Hambidge was able to secure the only national exposure for the program this summer. Hambidge had met Purdue alumnus and FOX news anchor Julian Phillips at an informal get-together at Purdue. "He told me if he could ever help me out to call, so I did," Hambidge said. As a result, "Play Golf America" was featured on FOX's "FOX News and Friends" program.

As a side, Hambidge also was able to work the CMA booth of another Alday client, Durango Boots, this summer.

While Hambidge's internship was paid, both LeBlanc and McCormick worked for the experience and connections. Both said you couldn't put a price on the experience and both were rewarded with offers of jobs upon graduation.