Public and government relations intern, Tony McDaniel, has spent his summer with Prairie State updating how PSGC interacts with employees, member-owners and community members.
Two of the main projects that McDaniel has worked on this summer have been laying some of the groundwork for PSGC’s updated company website and building a Facebook page to help the company communicate with employees as well as the community.
“When I found out we didn’t have a Facebook page I was pretty surprised,” He said. “The addition of a Facebook page as well as a new website will help bring Prairie State up to date when it comes to external communications. Facebook is going to provide us with a great way to promote our message and opens up communication channels we didn’t have before.”
McDaniel has worked closely with Public and Government Affairs Director, Alyssa Harre, to develop a plan for refreshing Prairie State’s website. The new and improved site is set to launch in late 2017.
Apart from working on the new website and Facebook page, McDaniel wrote the Meet the Interns feature stories to help introduce Prairie State’s interns to employees that may never get the chance to interact with some of the interns. He also helped organize several company events like the PSGC Employee Golf Tournament, the scholarship program and the upcoming PSGC Employee Appreciation Day.
McDaniel said he has learned a lot about the power generation industry as well as himself.
“I studied journalism and have worked in public relations and communications for a few years now, but all of my experience in communications is in sports,” McDaniel said. “I learned that regardless on the industry you work in, communications is really all the same. The content may be different, but in the end it’s all about having a message, promoting it and sticking to it. I think that I can do this in any type of industry.”
After McDaniel’s internship ends on August 11, he will return to Southern Illinois University – Carbondale to work with Saluki Athletics and begin working towards his master’s degree in professional media and media management.