This was one of the best summers that I’ve had, even though I was working for most of it.
After I got the offer from Matthew Peddie, I was really excited to get started. This was my first internship ever. The amount of congratulations and support that I got from friends, families, peers and mentors kept me going. I have to give a shoutout to Professor Rick Brunson because he played a huge role in helping me prepare for this moment. He even did a little happy dance when I told him I got an offer, and if you know Professor Brunson, you know.
When I was in kindergarten, my friend’s mom used to work at the local PBS station, which back in 2005, was in the same building as WMFE. So I was familiar with the station. It was surreal that I got to intern at the place that I had passed by so often in my life but had never known what went on inside.
In the weeks leading up to the start of the summer semester, I bought business casual attire and sharpened my journalism instincts. When I got the email with all of the information, I was a little nervous. What if I wasn’t ready for this?
It was at 9:30 a.m. on May 17, 2021 that I joined my first editorial meeting on Zoom. Danielle Prieur was the first person to welcome me with a cheerful smile that put me at ease. Once the meeting got started, I was saved from pitching publicly but I got to see how everyone else worked. Everyone was kind and accepted me coming on. I was grateful for that generosity.
Matthew showed me all the tricks and then I shared some of my ideas, which he liked. I felt that I was over-prepared from school, but that was a good thing.
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