South By Southwest, one of the largest media conferences in the world, attracts hundreds of thousands of guests to downtown Austin each year. The conference has developed a reputation of attracting high profile films, artists and businesses.
Every year, students fill a large part of the over 3,000 volunteers who help run the festival. While the festival usually coincides with the University’s spring break, this year SXSW runs the week before, meaning many students working with the festival have to choose between course commitments and gaining real world experience at the festival.
Isabella Torres, a public relations junior, said despite having lived in Austin for the past few years, SXSW felt far away. But, with this year’s festival taking place before spring break and encouragement from professors to pursue career opportunities, she felt confident in her ability to manage the workload.
“As a PR major, we’re constantly pushed to put ourselves out there to network with people,” Torres said. “I’ve heard so many professors say, ‘It’s not about what you know, but who you know.’ Something I really like about (registration) is I’ve already encountered so many people face to face, and heard about their journey.”
Mackenzie Gray, a public relations senior who became an intern after volunteering with the festival for two years, said while it’s been challenging to manage her internship responsibilities with her course load, she doesn’t regret taking the opportunity.
“A lot of PR coursework is group projects,” Gray said. ”So a lot of your grade depends on the presentation, as well as how well you’re working with other members in the group, and that can be difficult when I’m not in class to actively participate in the project and contribute a large part.”
Sofia Hernandez, a government freshman, signed up to volunteer with the exhibitions team as a way to earn a film and television badge for the festival. She echoed similar concerns about struggling to balance her course load with her commitments to the festival.
“Yesterday I took a shift from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and I had a government exam yesterday as well,” Hernandez said. “I had a little bit of a tough time being able to study for that as well as actually take the exam right after my shift.”
Hernandez also said if the festival doesn’t coincide with UT’s spring break, she might think twice about signing up to volunteer again.
“If I want to volunteer next year, I most likely will not have a freedom of schedule that I have right now.” Hernandez said. “Which leads to a bit of an apprehension. … If I’m worried about midterms, studying, schoolwork, actually having classes, I’m not going to want to have to also pile up volunteering for South By.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect the proper spelling of Sofia Hernandez. The Texan regrets this error.
