Prairie State Generating Company is excited to welcome Tony McDaniel as a public relations and government affairs intern for the summer of 2017.
McDaniel, who is a native of Belleville, Illinois, is a recent graduate of Southern Illinois University – Carbondale where he majored in journalism and minored in political science.
“I first heard about the Prairie State Generating Company years ago when the plant was being built. I remember it was a huge deal for the area,” McDaniel said. “When I saw that the company had a posting for a public relations intern, I didn’t even have to think twice about applying.”
For the last two years, McDaniel has worked for Saluki Athletics at SIU as a sports information director. He works with the women’s golf team and has supporting roles with the Saluki football, basketball and softball teams. He was the sports editor for SIU’s student newspaper, the Daily Egyptian, prior to working for Saluki Athletics. He also had two golf internships last year. This is his first job outside of the sports industry.
McDaniel is an avid follower of sports and politics – he said they’re two of his favorite things to study and talk about. This internship will give the Southern Illinois graduate a chance to gain experience within the political realm.
“I know for certain that this job is going to take me way out of my comfort zone and I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “I’ve spent most of my career working in press boxes in stadiums. That’s drastically different from being in a mine or power plant.”
Following the completion of his internship with PSGC, McDaniel will return to Southern Illinois to pursue his master’s degree in professional media and media management. He will also return to Saluki Athletics where he has accepted a graduate assistantship for the 2017-18 school year. After the completion of his graduate studies, McDaniel hopes to work as a sports information director for a major Division I university. He said his end goal in his career is to be an athletic director for one of the top Division I athletic programs in the nation.