An Intriguing Pilot Progam: Communication Studies Students & Alumni

In Summer 2025, Communication Studies alumnus Pete Ragias (2005) and current student Ellie Chojnacki participated in an intriguing pilot program. This program places a current major of the program into an internship at an organization of an alumnus of the program. In this way, the student has a built-in mentor and role model with firsthand knowledge of both their major and their future career options.

It is our fervent hope that there will be many more internship partnerships between current students and former students of The Communication Studies Program!

Read on to hear our interview with Pete and Ellie, who served together at PopJoy this summer. You’ll learn how they feel about their experience, plus how you can become a partner who provides an internship for a current student.

The beginnings of PopJoy

We started by asking Pete: “Hey Pete, we know that previously you were in development at Harvard, where you earned your master’s degree. So how did you get involved in entrepreneurship and start up PopJoy?”

Pete replied: “I have had the good fortune of being in close proximity to entrepreneurs over the course of my adult life. A common thread for those who succeed is that they often feel called to the thing they are doing. It feels natural. Like they are the only ones who can solve this problem. Starting PopJoy felt like a calling! Once I saw the opening in the marketplace, there was no other option than to found the company. My team and I bring that level of passion and commitment to PopJoy!”

We next asked Pete, “What does PopJoy do, and what are your goals for the company?”

Pete told us: “PopJoy is like TikTok for web comics. We empower comic creators to produce engaging comics that Pop, with user-friendly animation tools, earn from day one, and build a community of passionate fans – or as we refer to them – their PopSquad!”

A PopJoy internship

We turned to Ellie next and asked how she heard about the internship with PopJoy, and what led her to apply.

Ellie replied: “I heard about the internship at PopJoy through my professor! I saw an email he had sent to his students about a potential internship and was immediately interested. I reached out to Pete and let him know I was interested and wanted to learn more about Popjoy. Popjoy is a webcomic app that is designed to help creators gain recognition for their work by implementing tools for them to be discovered, even if they have never been heard of before! After hearing about this, I immediately thought of my sister, who has been creating comics for years, and saw that an app like this could be extremely helpful for their success. I saw so many of the issues with current webcomic apps being solved by PopJoy, and I wanted to be a part of the solution!”

We turned to Pete and inquired of him: “What qualities stood out to you about Ellie to select her as an intern for your organization?”

Pete told us: “When I first met Ellie, I was immediately impressed by her thoughtfulness and preparedness. She had clearly done her research into the webcomic marketplace, had a point of view, asked really engaging questions, highlighted her personal experiences (and that of course of family and friends) with webcomics, and expressed enthusiasm for PopJoy! She also followed up! I got busy and, frankly, I had other things that were more top of mind. Getting a nice email from Ellie redirected my attention her way.”

Growth through internships

We asked Ellie to share with us what she is doing and learning in her internship.

Ellie spilled the tea: “I have been doing a lot of marketing research for PopJoy, such as finding popular trends, getting feedback from webcomic readers and creators, finding people who may be interested in the app, and even filming TikToks for them! Honestly, this internship has been so fun, I don’t even feel like I’m working. I have always wanted to work in social media management, and I am doing just that at PopJoy! I am learning how to analyze trends and data to understand what can make social media posts trend, figuring out how to make posts catered to the target audience of a company, and learning how to implement user feedback. These are all skills that are vital to learn in order to be a successful social media manager.”

One COMST family

We asked Ellie and Pete to talk a little bit about the benefit of being from the same program, studying the same curriculum, and sharing this common bond.

Ellie took the lead in commenting by saying: “Pete has a great understanding of what I have learned thus far in my major — we’ve even taken some of the same classes. It is incredibly helpful to have an Iowa State alumnus working with me, as he can specifically cater my work to what I have learned, as well as teach me what I have not learned in my classes yet. In addition, Iowa State’s Communication Studies Program creates incredible leaders, such as Pete, who have a great understanding of how vital quality communication is in leadership. Everyone who works for PopJoy is always in the loop about the app’s progress and the happenings of the company because Pete learned that this is important to success through Iowa State’s teachings in the major.”

A launching pad

We asked Pete, based on his experience, “Would you recommend to other alumni of The Communication Studies Program that they bring in a current student of the program for an internship with their organization?”

Pete enthusiastically encouraged fellow alumni to follow in his footsteps, saying: “Ellie has been a wonderful help! She’s brought her thoughtfulness, passion, and work ethic to PopJoy and has represented the quality of students that attend ISU! This is super important to me and one of the biggest reasons I created this internship. Providing a thoughtful, kind, hardworking person an opportunity to gain skills and experience working side by side with seasoned professionals is something I hope Ellie will point back to as a launching pad in her professional life. There are people who provided those opportunities for me, and this is my way of paying forward the trust, time, and effort those individuals gave to me. I trust Ellie will do the same for others when she has the opportunity!”

In conclusion – an opportunity!

So, how about it, Communication Studies alumni and current students? Who is next? Whose organization will be the next one to provide an internship for a current student? Who’d like to join an internship from a Communication Studies alumnus? Hear a little more motivation from Pete: “We all have the responsibility to pave the way and provide opportunities for those who come after us. If Ellie is the standard bearer for students at ISU Communication Studies, my fellow alumni would benefit greatly from providing opportunities to this generation of students! Go Cyclones!”

Alumni, if you and your organization might be willing to provide an internship for a current student in Communication Studies, contact our program director, Dr. Stacy Tye-Williams (styewill@iastate.edu) or our alumni director, Dr. Todd Jenks (drjenks@iastate.edu) to talk about next steps.

Current students, be on the lookout for internship opportunity announcements from your professors and on the Communication Studies Instagram!

This article was written by Communication Studies and alumni coordinator Dr. Todd Jenks.