{"id":3175,"date":"2021-04-28T13:27:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=3175"},"modified":"2025-02-10T14:10:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T19:10:02","slug":"the-27000-mile-internship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2021\/04\/28\/the-27000-mile-internship\/","title":{"rendered":"The 27,000-Mile Internship"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3175_b7898f-73 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3175_3fd6f5-5b\">Eighteen strangers, traveling in three vehicles for 49 days to 22 states, 21 cites, 10 national parks (a total of 27,000 miles); four emergency room visits; endless mechanical problems\u2014all while consuming 1,176 cups of coffee, approximately 1 million PB&amp;Js, and just 35 home-cooked meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those are the essential statistics from Mallory Nolte\u2019s summer of 2020. It all added up to an experience the Wilmington University senior calls \u201clife-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nolte, a Video and Film Production major, was the official videographer, vlogger and drone operator for the Zoon Garden Promotional Tour, a cross-country odyssey that promoted \u201cThe Zoon Garden: The Decline of a Nation.\u201d A social critique of 21st&nbsp;century America, it\u2019s the debut novel of&nbsp; 27-year-old Jordan O\u2019Donnell, who wrestled and earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees at Virginia Tech before working 2 \u00bd years for the FBI. The \u201cAnimal Farm\u201d-like allegory tells the story of Clarendon Zoo and the dogmatic wolf and sheep tribes that trigger its downfall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nolte came across the gig while searching the internet for a summer internship after the job she had lined up was scuttled by \u2014 what else? \u2014 COVID-19. Having recently received her drone operator certification through WilmU, she applied for the job and in May became part of the team. She almost immediately began making and editing videos and a trailer for the tour from her parents\u2019 home in Townsend, Delaware. In mid-June, everyone assembled at a farm in Randallstown, Maryland, and prepared for their cross-country adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image3175_ba5468-c3.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .kb-image3175_ba5468-c3 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{max-width:350px;width:100%;}.wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image3175_ba5468-c3.kb-image-is-ratio-size, .wp-block-kadence-column > .kt-inside-inner-col > .kb-image3175_ba5468-c3 .kb-image-is-ratio-size{align-self:unset;}.kb-image3175_ba5468-c3 figure{max-width:350px;}.kb-image3175_ba5468-c3 .image-is-svg, .kb-image3175_ba5468-c3 .image-is-svg img{width:100%;}.kb-image3175_ba5468-c3 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image3175_ba5468-c3\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1194155803-750x460.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-3179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1194155803-750x460.jpg 750w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1194155803-250x153.jpg 250w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1194155803-768x471.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1194155803.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The 18 interns traveled and slept in a three-vehicle caravan: a converted school bus and two trailers, one towed by O\u2019Donnell\u2019s car and one by his manager\u2019s vehicle. \u201cThere were three guys and three girls in the bus,\u201d says Nolte, \u201cfive guys in one trailer, and seven girls, including me, in the other trailer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They held a kickoff party at a Richmond, Virginia, brewery, then headed west to Colorado, then north to Idaho before driving to California. But early in their journey, COVID reared its ugly and ubiquitous head, making a shambles of the schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile we were traveling, gather-ings of more than 10 people were outlawed, so we couldn\u2019t hold events,\u201d says O\u2019Donnell. \u201cWe had to adjust.\u201d&nbsp;Eventually, he says, the team was split into target groups: newspapers, news stations, libraries, independent book stores, and podcasts. \u201cEvery day we would go to a coffee shop, send emails, make calls, and then around&nbsp;4 o\u2019clock we would cut off work and go adventure wherever we were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMallory\u2019s videos on social media were definitely a big help,\u201d O\u2019Donnell adds. \u201cAs our main vlogger and drone operator, she was a vital part of the video team. She took many of the documentary\u2019s most&nbsp;iconic&nbsp;shots, including the base-jumping shot in Idaho Falls.\u201d&nbsp;Says Nolte: \u201cThe itinerary must have changed 20 times. Some states were totally locked down and I couldn\u2019t get a permit to fly drones there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, she says, the experience was invaluable. \u201cIt taught me to adapt to any situation.\u201d&nbsp;The interns forged several strong friendships. \u201cI always like meeting new people,\u201d she says, \u201cand we all had a good connection. We were on the same mission \u2014 promoting the book. Plus, I love to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Donnell confirms that she was a perfect fit for the group: \u201cMallory has a fun-loving attitude with a healthy dose of sass. She kept everybody on their toes, wasn\u2019t afraid to speak her mind, and always had a funny comment in her pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An officer in the National Honor Society at Middletown High School, where she also excelled in volleyball and tennis, Nolte has continued her student-athlete ways at WilmU. After graduating from Middletown in 2017, she scored a partial WilmU tennis scholarship and is a Dean\u2019s List student and one of two Wildcat tennis players named to the 2019 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference All-Academic Team \u2014 for the second time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nolte says she has enjoyed her time at WilmU. \u201cThe school allows me to continually grow in my studies, my confidence, and my independence,\u201d she says.&nbsp;&nbsp;Having had a taste of the nomadic life, she hopes after graduating to start her own videography business and travel the world taking aerial shots via drone.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eighteen strangers, traveling in three vehicles for 49 days to 22 states, 21 cites, 10 national parks (a total of 27,000 miles); four emergency room&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[621],"class_list":["post-3175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2021"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":621,"label":"Magazine Spring 2021"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Mallory-Nolte-720x480.jpg",720,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Mumford","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/eric\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":621,"name":"Magazine Spring 2021","slug":"magazine-spring-2021","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1178,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":23,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15669,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3175\/revisions\/15669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}