Is this the most fun internship at the University of Minnesota?
A look at two students who help lead University of Minnesota Twin Cities social media.
Whether it’s rushing the football field in a snowstorm as Gophers’ fans and players raise Paul Bunyan’s Axe in an epic win over Wisconsin, battling the University of Iowa in an Instagram video about which state’s residents have the weirdest accents, or giving a virtual tour of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, students Jaccyn Bugg ’27 (pictured above, left) and Sierra Skogen ’27 might just have the most entertaining internship around.
The two students have led the main University of Minnesota Twin Cities TikTok and Instagram accounts since the summer of 2025 when they came across a job posting on TikTok.
Bugg, a family social science major from Topeka, Kansas, and Skogen, advertising and public relations major from Mankato, Minnesota, both saw the internship as an opportunity to further their interests and education.
And though Bugg’s family social science major might not seem like an equally aligned fit, she says the experience is preparing her in surprising ways.
“I want to be a therapist, and with that, you have to be able to market and promote yourself and communicate with others,” says Bugg. “This really helps me get that experience. You're working with a bunch of different people, and you have to be able to effectively communicate because not everybody's going to be the same.”
Since taking on their roles the pair have become, if not the voice of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, then perhaps its spirit for hundreds of thousands of social media users. Their content has collectively received millions of views, and they’ve had some big hits.
They’re also learning valuable skills. Beyond how to engage and communicate with a variety of people, they’re gaining skills in graphic design, writing and editing, video production and learning to work with a team.
“I'm more of an introverted person,” says Bugg. “Having to go and talk to people was nerve-wracking, but also very exciting because it was getting me out of my shell, and I think that's a big part of this job.”
Internships are invaluable
For many students, internships are the first pairing of their studies with their potential career paths, and that can be an intimidating experience — especially when your work will be seen and commented on by potentially thousands of people.
Becky Hall of the University's Career Services Administration says students should pursue an internship even if it can be a little scary.
“These opportunities exist for students to kind of test the waters, to start honing those professional skills and developing networks,” says Hall. “It's such invaluable learning, and it reinforces what they're learning in the classroom.”
Meanwhile, internships give students a chance to try out a job in a low-stakes environment. “Employers know that students don't have a whole lot of experience yet,” says Hall. “They're providing an opportunity for you to grow.”
At the University of Minnesota, an online tool called Handshake hosts internship and job opportunities posted by employers, while students can list their skills so employers can search directly for talent. In 2024-25, more than 54,000 internships were posted on Handshake, as well as more than 150,000 jobs.
“A majority of our students find employment and internship opportunities here in Minnesota, but our students are recruited across the world, across the U.S.,” says Hall, a point recently emphasized by the CEO of Goldman Sachs in Fortune magazine, who said University of Minnesota grads are ‘at least as good, maybe better’ than the best and brightest from Harvard.
Internships by the numbers
An unforgettable experience
Bugg and Skogen didn’t have to travel far for their internship — there are hundreds of jobs and internship opportunities for students right here at the University of Minnesota — but they both feel like they may have hit the jackpot with this one.
Skogen says her biggest moment so far came during the Gopher football team’s win over Wisconsin. “I'm a huge football girl,” she says. “My parents love football, so just being on the sidelines for that, and then rushing the field. … I never rush the field because I'm kind of scared that I'm gonna break an ankle or something, but we were already on the field! Just seeing that whole community come on there and start dancing … that was incredible.”
Still, it’s not every day that opportunities like rushing the field present themselves, and so on those days, says Bugg, the pair have to get creative.
“Sometimes people don't want to do interviews with us, but Sierra and I are just kind of like, ‘Well, if they don't want to do interviews, we're going to think of our own idea, and then we kind of just start filming videos, and that's always really fun. We're comfortable enough with each other to just do random stuff.”
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