Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene

My Internship Experience with the Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce



My internship experience with the Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce has definitely been a rewarding experience.   Prior to being placed at the site, I had no knowledge of how much the Chamber contributed to the community.   Its goal is to unite local businesses and to generally promote the economic well being of the community.   As a marketing major and aspiring entrepreneur, I learned that the Chamber of Commerce could be used as a marketing tool to create public exposure for businesses.   My job was to participate in all daily Chamber activities and act as a transportation correspondent, to help create solutions for the transportation issues that arose within the town.   Upon my arrival, the town had been experiencing a lack of parking space on the main street, so I decided to adopt this issue as my research project.   We wanted to create designated parking stalls on the main street, and to have the back area of the buildings cleared and graded.   I received great help from many transportation professionals in the area, as well as from my site supervisor.   She was very knowledgeable about how the town of St. George conducts business, and she was also able introduce me to several contacts that would aide me in my research.   Although parking stalls could not be created, we did get approval to work on clearing the back area.   Property owners must give their consent first, but the project is going in a positive direction and is a work in progress.
Aside from maintaining daily site activities, I also worked with the director for Region 4 of the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor on a transportation project.   I was responsible for creating new locations for Heritage Corridor signs in Dorchester County.   We also traveled throughout the county to make a listing of all signs that needed to be replaced.   Afterwards, I contacted the Department of Transportation’s local district...