Undergraduate Communication Association sponsors professional Networking Night for student body

For the first time, the Undergraduate Communication Association will be opening its Networking Night to all UCLA students.

The group is scheduled to host 10 speakers from seven companies, including NBC/Universal, Nickelodeon, LA Magazine and Nordstrom, to speak to students about internships both with their companies and in their line of work.

“The goal is to connect our members with professionals in community and give them opportunities to get internships with speakers that offer internships,” said Kellie Taylor, co-president of the association and a fourth-year political science and communication studies student.

Taylor added that the night is unique because it allows students the opportunity to talk in a more personal setting with the speakers, which gives them a better chance of being remembered when they potentially seek internships in the future.

“I would say we’re trying to give them a higher caliber of professionals on a more intimate level. This way, you’re not one of 500 people who go to a networking night, you’re one of 80,” she said.

Ashleigh Lew, Networking Night coordinator and a fourth-year communication studies student, said she likes the association because it appeals to a wide range of interests that deal with communications. Members are not restricted to the entertainment field or by their major.

She added, for example, that while she is interested in entertainment, and found her internship at NBC/Universal through the Undergraduate Communication Association, Taylor is more concerned with the governmental aspect of communications.

“It’s important for people at that stage of their life, in college, to be exposed to as many different people as possible and in as many different fields and see direction they want to take or don’t want to take,” said Cliff Taylor, one of the speakers for the event, and senior vice president and national sales manager for Borrego Springs Bank.