Junior Amini proves her bi-winning attitude

By Mary Chamaki

Politically bound Santa Clara junior Paria Amini pursues her "bi-winning" career strategy by advancing to the top 250 applicants in the Charlie Sheen internship, while promoting her future goals and ambitions in the political sphere.

"Although many people might question the association with such a controversial celebrity, it needs to be known that good can in fact be brought out of this scenario, which I have been doing by using the publicity to share my story," said Amini.

According to Amini, a somewhat satirical parallel can be drawn between the pursuit, of what began as a pool of approximately 82,000 applicants, for the Charlie Sheen internship, to having received the golden ticket in the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

In the same light, the original applicants are not completely aware of the exact final job description of the internship, what the next round in the process will require. There has even been a spoof regarding an Irishman falsely claiming he won the title.

As of now, Amini has completed the third round and is waiting to hear what the fourth round, narrowing the pool to 50 applicants, will require.

The original process began when the website, internships.com, announced that Charlie Sheen needed a qualified intern to fulfill areas of his social media and publicity coverage. The first round asked the participants to "tweet" a clever message, which would act as an acknowledgement that they were interested in the internship.

"I get paid so Charlie Sheen keeps #winning = #winwin."

The creative integration of humor in both the tweet and the hash tag, gained Amini a spot among the original round of approximately 82,000 applicants.

As the rounds progressed, however, it became more difficult to be chosen, especially knowing that the cut in the second round would be a significant one, narrowing the contestants down to mere 250.

The second round asked participants a series of questions involving their previous social media background, their GPA, and a link to both their Facebook and Twitter pages were required. A search filter for key words was then run by website officials, and luckily, Amini holds a solid level of background experience and current work in the media field. She currently works as a blogger and website designer at one of the biggest Fashion and Lifestyle websites in the Bay Area, modebayarea.com, and she also has pursued her political ambitions by holding an internship as Council aid in San Jose City Hall, promoting political officials through social media.

"It has been an incredible process to be able to be interviewed by sources such as NBC Bay Area and Campbell Patch. I hope to one day enter the field of electoral politics and I have my hopes set on becoming a senator."

As the third round approached, Twitter was host to a spoof by an Irishman, who declared that he had taken the title as the winner of the internship.

The other participants, who all keep their updates on the situation through their Twitter accounts, believed that the title had been announced and they no longer held a chance.

After receiving a large amount of publicity in Ireland, internships.com finally came out with a statement concluding that the man was a fraud and that the contest was still active.

Third round requirements were then posted on the website. This round required participants to post a two-minute, short but witty YouTube video that would show why they were interested in the internship, and how they were planning to use the internship to benefit the public.

As a member of the local republican party and an active member of the local political community, Amini chose to do her video on how to advise someone running for office; her video is titled "Round 3 #Tigerbloodintern Search ‘I've Got the Golden Ticket.'"

As she awaits the next cut, Amini is less concerned with making it into the fourth round than with how the public attention has allowed her voice to be heard. "This experience has given me the publicity needed to enter into these fields [i.e. electoral politics], and I hope that many more opportunities will come my way."

Contact Mary at mchamaki@scu.edu or at (408) 554-1918.