Intern at WESH2 News
Interview
Major/track: Journalism
Graduation Year: May 2020
With which organization did you intern? I interned at WESH2 News.
Where is it located? Orlando, Florida
How did you find out about the internship? My brother went to University of Central Florida and I had always loved the area. I knew someone that worked at the station and she recommended that I apply.
What were your responsibilities? I want to be a television news reporter, so as a news reporting intern I shadowed the reporters at the station. I went out with reporters and learned how to interview, write, shoot, edit, and produce my own news packages. I did many on-camera stand ups, and at the end of the internship wrote, and read an anchor read for my reel.
What did you most enjoy? I enjoyed the people at the station. Everyone from the reporters, photographers, anchors, producers, and everyone else that worked there was so helpful and taught me so much about working in a news environment and becoming a meaningful journalist. I always enjoyed going out with the reporters. I reported on everything from the SpaceX launch at two in the morning, to the night before the Trump rally in Orlando. I saw things that most people do not see day to day and hearing the stories I heard proved to me even more that journalism is the career I am meant to be in.
What is something you learned from your experience? Something that I learned from one of my favorite reporters, Sanika, was that you will find your voice and it is OK to still be learning how to act on camera. I felt that I had such a high pitched voice that could not be serious enough to report news, but I was able to learn a lot on how to execute a stand up or anchor reel from the advice I got from reporters and anchors.
How will your internship help you in your future studies/career? I believe that this internship will help me in my first job and many more because there were so many things I learned that could not have been learned in a classroom. From the networking and connections I made, I started to create relationships that I will be able to revisit when I go into a career in news.
What's one piece of advice you'd give to other students about securing and succeeding in an internship? Look for an internship as early as possible so you can start planning for housing, and travel situations. When you are at your internship it is how you make it; do not wait for an opportunity. Always ask "What else can I do?" when you feel that you are not doing enough to benefit your learning experience. Listen to your supervisors and take every chance you have to learn and grow at the internship.
