LINK Internship at DTVIntroduction:
LINK or Leading Internships for New Knowledge is a program where all juniors take three weeks out of the spring semester to take part in an internship based on career interest. Juniors do not take part in any school work, and instead spend that time to get working experience, and live as an adult for three weeks. This program helps them broaden their mind professionally and gives them real-world experience. I interned with Durango TV, or newly renamed Local News Network Durango. This is Durangos local television station providing weekly news stories focused on regional and statewide news. Their website, containing an archive of all their previous and recent stories can be found via this link: https://www.durangotv.com/ |
Internship Gathering:
I wanted to do my internship at a news broadcast station. Broadcast journalism has recently become a massive interest of mine and I have already taken a part of a journalism camp in Phoenix, written for my school newspaper, as well as co-run our schools bi-weekly news program called The Friday Show. I began by emailing someone I met in the summer of 2018 who worked at ABC 15 news in Phoenix, Arizona to see if they would be willing to take me on as an intern. I quickly received a response with bad news, they could not take any college or high school interns. I didn't know who else I could contact. At first, I was very skeptical of emailing Durango Tv because I was not sure if I was going to be doing what I wanted to do. At the journalism camp, I was producing stories for a wide population where there was always a story to cover. I was unsure if I would be busy at Durango Tv. It came to the point where I decided to email them because I didn't want to get behind and I quickly got a response and had an in-person meeting scheduled. I had a total of 4 meetings and had everything confirmed and ready to go. Anticipation: Leading up to LINK I was experiencing a ton of emotions, I was excited, nervous, anxious. I was super excited to work as a reporter, producing stories, and putting together newscasts. I was nervous about how I was going to give my first impression and how I would keep up with work. I was anxious because I didn't know if I would enjoy my experience or have enough work to do and get bored pretty soon into it. However, the first day of LINK all my anxiety and nervousness disappeared. Internship!: My first day, I met with my mentor and we discussed how I could stay busy the next three weeks, we came up with story ideas and discussed my LINK project. I quickly became attached to the work! I got my own desk and my own computer which would act as my work station throughout the duration of my internship. There would be days where I would be out in town collecting footage from a variety of different places, there were days where I would be at the desk all day writing my story, editing, or planning. I got to act as an anchor a total of 4 times, 3 of which were my own stories. I quickly got invested in each of the stories I was to write. One of them was about train preparation, and one was about river safety. These stories were not chosen by me but rather assigned. I enjoyed creating these stories and learned a lot during the process. My final story was all done by me, edited, written, and recorded. |
My First Two Stories:
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My LINK Story(Project):
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LINK Project:
While I technically consider all of the stories I created my “project”, the one I am most proud of is my final story, which was my real project. I decided to write a story on the LINK program here at Animas High School. I wanted to create a story that was informal and entertaining, and that could be used for AHS for marketing. My story was about what the LINK program is and how it prepares students for life after high school. I interviewed two people for this story, Janae Hunderman, and Ori Rehman. Aside from the LINK coordinator I wanted to interview someone who was in the middle of their internship. I felt like Ori’s internship was a very active and unique one so I wanted to get his experience. He interned with Upper Pine Fire & Protection District in Bayfield and got hands-on experience being a firefighter and EMT. He was always busy and enjoyed every minute of this internship. I interviewed him about his experience and how he feels LINK is preparing him for success. I interviewed Janae about what her job is as a coordinator and how the LINK program has improved over the years. The final product was a newscast based all around LINk and I ended up editing, writing, and filming it all. You can find all of my stories including my project down below: INCLUDE VIDEOS! |
Reflection:
LINK was an amazing experience. I got to experience first hand what it's like to have a full-time job working in a field I am very interested in. Coming into this internship I had a few skills that I had learned prior. I knew some specific angles to capture interviews with and minimal knowledge about how to write a story. I was planning on using my optimism and enthusiasm to figure out the rest. I learned so much more than I was expecting. I learned how to capture specific b-roll, how to edit with adobe premiere, and how to write a news story with correct grammar and tone. This was the hardest for me to learn and I am still trying to learn it. There is a specific voice you need in a news story and specific grammatical choices that you must make and it was difficult to nail every one of them. Coming into this internship I was already a very vocal writer. I have always written verbally and that helped me in writing my stories. However, I would always make these little simple mistakes that could totally give the wrong context or impression in the final story, so it was hard to get those write. Thanks to my mentor, she helped me with this and would critique every story I wrote and taught me these skills during the process. Also during this internship, I learned that patience is key as well as a lot of planning and coordinating skills. Of course, an experience like this cannot come without some challenges. Working individually full time was difficult at times. There would be days where I would have to run around all over town collecting footage and sometimes this got very challenging. I would get lost sometimes and maybe even go to the wrong place. I almost ran out of gas one day and began to panic, luckily that situation was handled. Through this challenge, I learned how to be independent and work through problems without the help of peers. This has been something that I have rarely done and I’m glad I got to experience it multiple times to really grow my problem-solving skills. I also grew as a writer overall through the challenge of writing like a reporter. It was not easy, but I quickly adapted to many skills and I plan on improving them further.
Durango Tv was a very flexible and approachable company. They always understood if there were any problems and would do their best to help. They were very helpful and excited to have me. I feel like this company does a great job at being open to all demographics. If you know a lot or very little of journalism, they will teach you skills that professionals have mastered and help you adapt to the environment. This was a great opportunity for me and can be for anyone who is interested in broadcast journalism or reporting in general. After this internship, I know now that I to pursue this career in the future. I already had a high passion for broadcast journalism because of The Friday Show and the camp I took a part in, but this internship helped me finalize my decision. Through this internship, I discovered that I am a very community driven person and can work individually pretty effectively. My enthusiasm is appreciated in this line of work and I can always learn new things. As my high school career comes to an end I want to work more with Durango Tv and have already been offered to come back and continue work for them. I am stoked because before I go to college I would have already had experience working as a reporter and that can help me get potential jobs in the future. LINK was one of the best things that Animas has provided me with and I am stoked that I learned as much as I did and I can use these new insights and skills in the future.
LINK was an amazing experience. I got to experience first hand what it's like to have a full-time job working in a field I am very interested in. Coming into this internship I had a few skills that I had learned prior. I knew some specific angles to capture interviews with and minimal knowledge about how to write a story. I was planning on using my optimism and enthusiasm to figure out the rest. I learned so much more than I was expecting. I learned how to capture specific b-roll, how to edit with adobe premiere, and how to write a news story with correct grammar and tone. This was the hardest for me to learn and I am still trying to learn it. There is a specific voice you need in a news story and specific grammatical choices that you must make and it was difficult to nail every one of them. Coming into this internship I was already a very vocal writer. I have always written verbally and that helped me in writing my stories. However, I would always make these little simple mistakes that could totally give the wrong context or impression in the final story, so it was hard to get those write. Thanks to my mentor, she helped me with this and would critique every story I wrote and taught me these skills during the process. Also during this internship, I learned that patience is key as well as a lot of planning and coordinating skills. Of course, an experience like this cannot come without some challenges. Working individually full time was difficult at times. There would be days where I would have to run around all over town collecting footage and sometimes this got very challenging. I would get lost sometimes and maybe even go to the wrong place. I almost ran out of gas one day and began to panic, luckily that situation was handled. Through this challenge, I learned how to be independent and work through problems without the help of peers. This has been something that I have rarely done and I’m glad I got to experience it multiple times to really grow my problem-solving skills. I also grew as a writer overall through the challenge of writing like a reporter. It was not easy, but I quickly adapted to many skills and I plan on improving them further.
Durango Tv was a very flexible and approachable company. They always understood if there were any problems and would do their best to help. They were very helpful and excited to have me. I feel like this company does a great job at being open to all demographics. If you know a lot or very little of journalism, they will teach you skills that professionals have mastered and help you adapt to the environment. This was a great opportunity for me and can be for anyone who is interested in broadcast journalism or reporting in general. After this internship, I know now that I to pursue this career in the future. I already had a high passion for broadcast journalism because of The Friday Show and the camp I took a part in, but this internship helped me finalize my decision. Through this internship, I discovered that I am a very community driven person and can work individually pretty effectively. My enthusiasm is appreciated in this line of work and I can always learn new things. As my high school career comes to an end I want to work more with Durango Tv and have already been offered to come back and continue work for them. I am stoked because before I go to college I would have already had experience working as a reporter and that can help me get potential jobs in the future. LINK was one of the best things that Animas has provided me with and I am stoked that I learned as much as I did and I can use these new insights and skills in the future.