Ethan Graue heads to New York City to intern with Time Magazine

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[May 29, 2014]  LINCOLN - Today is Thursday May 29th. While that date may not be significant a year from now for most of us, for Ethan Graue, it is a date he will more than likely never forget.

On this day, he along with his parents Chris and Phyllis Graue are heading to New York City. His folks will help him get settled into a dormitory at Columbia University where he will live for the next two months. While he is in New York he will be serving an internship with the nationally prominent Time Magazine.

Graue said Tuesday he is very excited about the opportunity he has to experience working with such a stellar publication, and looks forward to living in New York. He said the opportunity to intern in New York is due in no small part to his parents, especially his mom.

Early this year, Chris Graue, owner of Graue Chevrolet, was named as a Time Dealer of the Year. He and Phyllis made a trip to New Orleans as part of that recognition. While there they met and spent time with Moritz Lowe, the vice-president of Sales and Marketing for Time.

In one of their conversations, Phyllis told Lowe about Ethan and said he would be needing to serve an internship this summer as part of his education at Millikin University in Decatur. She asked if Time ever did internships, and Lowe said that they did.
 


That started the ball rolling for Ethan, who later contacted Lowe through email, then had phone conversations with him. He submitted a resume to Time, and talked with other executives in the company as well. The end result, he was selected to serve.

Graue said his resume also played a big part in his getting the job. He said Lowe and others with Time were impressed with his service in Boy Scouts, the fact that he had done volunteer work with the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce, and that he had spent a summer in Colorado at Estes Park volunteering with the YMCA.

Graue said he doesn’t know exactly how many interns Time uses each year, but he does know that among the roster of interns staying at Columbia this summer there is only one other who will be working for Time. Based on that, he feels like this is probably a pretty elite opportunity.

Graue has just completed his junior year at Millikin and is majoring in Communications and Public Relations. He said in speaking with the people at Time, he learned he will be working in a department that will allow him to gain real-life experience in his field of study.

He’s especially excited about this because he’s been told the work will not just be busy-work; he will have opportunities to work for Time staff on specific promotion projects and will get to interact with not only staff but also with clientele.

Graue said he’s also excited about being in New York. He noted that he has been there before, once, but that it was several years ago. He said now that he is older, he feels like he will have a greater appreciation for the city and what it offers.

He has a list of places he wants to go including visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero. He’s also looking forward to taking in some of the other New York experiences, such as shopping in the unique shops and delis. He noted that while he doesn’t really spend much time shopping, he thinks that it is part of the life-style there and he wants to experience as much of that as he can.

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Another point of interest for Graue is the ethnic cultures in the city. New York and its Burroughs are filled with regions such as Little Italy and Chinatown, along with Irish, German, and other foreign culture regions. Graue said visiting those places, seeing the sites, and eating authentic foods are definitely on his ‘to-do’ list.

And of course, you can’t go to New York without visiting Broadway. Graue said his family is planning to come to New York in July for a visit. He hopes then they will be able to go together to one Broadway play, again as part of the experience of the Big Apple.

When asked if there was any aspect of his adventure that he finds intimidating, he was quick to reply, “The sub-way system.” He noted that it is a mode of transportation one doesn’t find in central Illinois. In addition, it is a massive system, and complicated. He laughed and said, “I’m always going to worry that I’m going to be late getting to work.”

Graue is quick to realize that he’s going to be living in a different world than he is accustomed to, “Coming from a community of 25[000] to 30,000 to a city with millions, is going to be a big change,” he said, but he’s still very excited.

Graue said the opportunity he has in the internship may open doors for him after he graduates college, and that is a very important aspect of going to New York in the first place.

Graue’s ambitions are to return to Time after graduation in 2015. If he does well during the internship he increases his odds of getting that opportunity. But, he has other corporate goals as well. While Time might be his first choice, close runners up include Disney and Time Warner on the movie production side. He said working for either one of those companies would involve Public Relations, building promotional programs for new releases and planning promotional events, all of which would be right in his wheelhouse.
 

 


So, while today may be just another day for most of us, for Graue it is a turning point for his future. While you read this, he is preparing to wing his way to a new adventure. When asked how his parents feel about it all, Graue said they too were excited for him. He noted that his dad has done the typical “dad thing” talking to him about being on his own. “He told me ‘you have a good head on your shoulders’ and “just be careful.’”

There really is no end to this story, because for Graue the adventure is just beginning. He did promise to check back in with LDN when he returns this fall, and we look forward to hearing from him then.

[By NILA SMITH]

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