Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Team

As a Production Intern at PPG Paints Arena for the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team, public relations student Gianna Cicchi, took a huge step toward her dream career of working in sports public relations.  

Her internship involved working game days: filming warm-ups, conducting short player interviews, recording the coach’s pre-game questions — and then packaging and uploading the content to the website and social media.  

A lot of what she learned in her public relations classes successfully prepared her for this internship, and she was able to apply what she learned in the classroom to this experience, especially creating presentations and networking skills.  

“From my PR classes I have applied a lot of what I have learned at Kent State,” she said. “I had to give a presentation at the end of my internship in which my team was tasked to create a new asset for the Penguins Partnership.” 

Working in sports public relations has always been Gianna's dream career path.  

“My favorite part of this internship has definitely been filming some of the greatest NHL players,” she said. “As a Penguins fan since I was a little girl, this (was) a dream. I love this team and everyone who has taught me so much.”