Contact: Sasha Steinberg
STARKVILLE, Miss.—In more ways than one, Mississippi State senior communication/broadcasting major Brock St. Clair is on the ride of a lifetime.
A Germantown, Tennessee, native and Starkville resident, St. Clair is among eight students who are participating in an eight-week “Find Your Freedom” summer internship experience sponsored by Harley-Davidson. Selected from 7,500 applicants from more than 30 countries, interns also represent Long Beach, California; Wuhan, China; London, England; Miami, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cape Town, South Africa and Kennan, Wisconsin.
Aboard a “Hard Candy Hot Rod Red Flake” Street Glide Special motorcycle furnished by Southern Thunder Harley-Davidson in Southaven, St. Clair is touring the country and producing content representing the motorcycle manufacturer on his personal social media channels. In addition to YouTube (Brock St. Clair), St. Clair can be found on Facebook @brock.stclair, Twitter @imnotadolphin and Instagram @dont_brock_the_boat, using hashtags #FindYourFreedom, #HarleyDavidson and #sponsored.
“What I love so much about this company is that they made a big point to say they want nothing but our opinions, our personalities, our style,” St. Clair said. “To have the chance to tell stories and get this recognition from a company with as much stature and history as Harley-Davidson is very reassuring.”
To apply for the “Find Your Freedom” internship, St. Clair, a student in MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College, created a video illustrating his thoughts on “freedom.” In the video, he reflects on ways his MSU experience has challenged him to get out of his comfort zone and think independently.
“To me, freedom means choices. Having freedom…having choices…you can shape your own future. That’s liberating and terrifying,” he said.
In 2017, St. Clair successfully auditioned for the university’s Lab Rats Improvisational Comedy Troupe. To date, he has performed in more than 30 shows and will serve as the troupe’s head director starting this fall.
St. Clair said his involvement with Lab Rats has connected him with “some of the most incredible people I have ever known” and encouraged his interest in pursuing other academic and social activities.
For the past two years, St. Clair has hosted a morning radio show “Cooking with Brock” every weekday for MSU’s noncommercial, community radio station WMSV FM 91.1. Since January, he has gained filming, editing, directing and production experience as a student worker for the University Television Center.
Along with learning how to ride a “hog,” St. Clair said he has enjoyed visits to the Harley-Davidson Museum and is looking forward to celebrating the company’s 115th anniversary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“I’m proud of myself because I live out of my comfort zone every day, and I’m hungry for more of that. And it’s all because of that one choice,” St. Clair emphasized. “Going to that (Lab Rats) audition completely changed everything.”
“Make the choice. Don’t think about it,” he advises other students. “Just make it. Do it.”
Learn more about MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and its Department of Communication at www.cas.msstate.edu and www.comm.msstate.edu. Lab Rats Improvisational Comedy Troupe can be found at www.labratscomedy.com.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.