In the short time that Odessa T. Clarke has attended Temple University, she has made her mark. Klein College of Media and Communication has served as the site of the senior media studies and production student’s production experience, but her spring semester communication internship at the Pennsylvania State Capitol with Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman was useful in improving and exploring her communication skills.

Clarke returned to higher education after a hiatus and received her associate’s degree in communication from Delaware County Community College before transferring to Temple in 2018. She dove headfirst into Klein’s opportunities, including taking a summer practicum last year with Temple University Television. The six-week Summer I class reinforced her love for communication and taught her practically all of the roles that are required to produce content for television, including operating cameras and managing the floor.

But Clarke did not compromise her other interests solely to pursue production. Her internship with Fetterman’s office allowed her to experience how political issues are inextricably linked to communication. She excelled in her duties, showcasing her dedication and expertise in everything from sending out official communication through email to interacting with constituents and state congressional politicians. Within less than a month of starting her position, she was offered a full-time position with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s communication department, though she was not able to accept the offer because of her commitment to schoolwork and the difficulty of relocating Harrisburg from her permanent residence in Delaware County. 

Clarke found that Fetterman’s outspokenness regarding criminal justice reform fit well with her beliefs. In addition to the internship, her individual work with the Pennsylvania Prison Society inspired her decision to apply to law school, where she wants to use what she has learned to help marginalized populations receive increased visibility. She plans to draw on what she has learned at Klein and from her internship to shape her future.

“I am going to tie my media skills — whether it be political or what I’m doing with reform — with being an interviewer or an analyst,” Clarke says.

Christina Kauffman, press secretary for Fetterman, worked with Clarke and was impressed with her sincerity.

“She does care about real people,” Kauffman says. “I think that she does have an interesting perspective because she’s a mother and has had life experiences that make her able to relate to other people. And in media and messaging, it’s very important that you do have that empathy or that ability to relate so that you can talk to people using not just the words that they would understand but so that you can be approachable and let them know that you either sympathize or empathize.”

“This experience with my internship really opened my eyes up to how our system is really broken and how many people really need help,” Clarke says. “So I’m really fortunate to have been on the winning team...[Fetterman has] only been in office for a year but he’s done so much for inmates who have been wrongfully convicted, wrongfully accused and who are just sitting in jail for no reason whatsoever.”

Unfortunately, Clarke’s internship was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but she is confident that the connections she established at the State Capitol will remain beneficial. According to Clarke, other internship programs at the State Capitol have been suspended indefinitely due to the pandemic.