The majority of high school students find themselves wasting away 3 months of summer vacation doing absolutely nothing. It sounds crazy but we all do it. Everyone asks themselves, “Hmmm what should I do today?” but we all end up taking another trip to the fridge and then back to bed it is. At the beginning of this summer I told myself that I was going to do something productive and I started looking for a job. I was able to find and internship at a local magazine called Bent. This internship gave me valuable experience, a bigger sense of culture, and helped me polish my communication skills.

When it comes to getting a job, it should be something you enjoy because if not you will lose interest in a heartbeat. That is why working at a magazine is a sure fit for everyone. There are so many different genres of magazines to suit every interest. Bent is a new magazine about Wynwood, an up and coming area in Miami. I was amazed by the amount of culture that was hiding in my backyard with so many different types of people and ways of life. I would have never discovered this side of my city without this job.

When working at a magazine, generally the tasks you’re asked to complete are algorithmic but also have some heuristic aspects to them. For example, you may be asked to read over an interview being published and then to reformat the page and arrange the texts and pictures in an interesting way. Working at a magazine gives you a pronounced sense of independence; you’re given a task and have to complete it without anyone looking over your shoulder. Working at a magazine will bring out qualities in you that you didn’t know you had, you’ll gain a phenomenal work ethic without even knowing it (not to mention you’ll get your parents off your back about getting a job).

A job like this isn’t just something that you put on your college applications. It helps you dive deeper and discover different careers you might be thinking of pursuing through all the research you have to do for just one issue. For example, you might want to go into fashion so working at a magazine that has to do with the fashion world can either confirm your interest in it or show you that that line of work isn’t for you.

Magazines not only give you experience in writing and journalism but also introduce you to many other jobs. For example, when working at a magazine you see how it is marketed and all the paper work needed to publish it giving you a solid idea of the business and legal sides of it. Magazines aren’t just tabloids telling you about the latest gossip in Hollywood. They can be informative, entertaining, and a lot of fun (especially if you’re working at one)!