Internship Orientation

Well, the whole reason I am able to stay in Austin for 10 weeks is because I got a summer internship! I'm working at News 8 Austin, a 24 hour news station. Unlike most news stations, it does not focus on crime and violence (unless it's prevalent to the community, of course) but instead it focuses on things the Austin community would be interested in hearing about--local events, human interest, etc. Unfortunately I am not being paid to work, but it will certainly be a learning experience that will get me course credit (not to mention a potential job at the station if I impress the staff!)

I showed up to the news station in a carefully planned out "work casual" outfit and was led to a conference room with 14 fellow interns. Everyone else is relatively close to my age. There are a couple of interns from out of state like me (from Nebraska, North Carolina, Chicago) but most are either from Austin or the Texas area. Considering that News 8 is a large operation, each intern is working in a different department. I will be working at the Assignment Desk, where people call in tips and breaking news. But luckily for me, my supervisor said that I will have the chance to explore different departments and job shadow reporters, photographers, and producers. Essentially, I will be interning for several departments rather than just one! It's exciting because I'll be learning so much, but I'll also be able to interact with the fellow interns.

We got to take a tour of the studio and meet some department heads. The building looks small from the outside, but there is so much going on inside. You don't think about it when you're sitting down and watching a news cast, but there isn't really a big open studio space where the anchors sit. In fact, one sitting area for interviews is in an open cubicle 3 feet away from someone else's desk. It's hard to describe I guess, but everything is smooshed together--conference rooms, control rooms, sets, cubicles all in one space. It'll be a little tricky to get used to the setup, so maybe you will see me tripping onto the set during a broadcast or something.

The orientation was a little bit of information overload--in the course of two hours, I met and talked to basically everyone who works at the station, so of course I can remember no one's names. The interns did get to sit down and have lunch together which was nice. I was also told that News 8 is notorious for having food delivered unannounced and they celebrate birthdays all the time. Maybe all the stumbling around the studio will help me keep off the weight from Taco Tuesdays.

I guess it is a good thing that I never ended up finding a part-time job, because it looks like the internship will keep me pretty busy. I really want to make a good impression, so I will be going to a lot of News 8 events and stopping by the station during my off hours to poke around. Maybe I can gain recognition from the staff from having some type of quirk. I could be cupcake girl, who bakes every week, or I could be crazy sock girl or something awful like that. Ideas?