What I Did during My Internship - Essay Example

Running Head: Internship Paper Internship Paper Week January 14 to 20 The word ‘excited’ could not even begin to describe how I felt upon my entry to the Athletics Department of the University of South Florida on my first day of internship. Knowing that the next 13 weeks would be filled with new learning and experiences, I was anticipating having assignments that would encourage me to step up and conquer my weaknesses. I thought I wasn’t too far from to working for ESPN. Although I wasn’t sure what kind of experience I would get from this opportunity, but I was always ready. My internship supervisor Deni Brave wasted no time and told me what his expectations were of me and wanted to know what I want to learn from the program. I was later introduced to everyone who I would be working closely within athletics and later told me about his career path and how he got started. Mr. Brave resume displayed that he had lots of experience in the production field. He’s started learning the production end of television at an early age of 13. I was given a tour of all of the athletics facilities on campus and I was also taught about all the different machines and their functions. Every facility had something unique about them and most of the facilities had to share a lot of the same equipment as well. Later during that week I found out that I was going to be working about baseball and softball games. I would be assisting in enabling people to follow USF softball and baseball games from home which I found exciting because I have always been a sports fan. As my passion for the game continued to develop, it lead me into a field that I never thought I had an interest for, which is sports reporting. Week 2 – January 21 to 27 Things started to get busy on my second week of internship. I began getting hands on doing editing with the aid of Final Cut Pro. I have had prior experience using final cut pro while taking broadcast news, but it was during the internship that I was really able to develop my editing skills. My broadcast news professor was not very skilled in this application and so although I was familiar with the basics, getting hands on was the best way to really understand how it works. It was during my second week that I was asked to put together a highlight film for the men’s and women’s basketball team. I found it really interesting because I am a basketball fan, and I totally understand the game and this kind of sport in general. I also know most personalities behind the industry. I went about finding important clips and editing them to craft a story that is both interesting and compelling to the target audience. I created a storyline and took my time to find the right shots, considering that materials are very limited. My coach was very supportive about the project and ensured that I was given proper mentorship every time. We had consultation sessions whenever he was available and he let me go through previous materials so I would get the feel of how story telling in the sports industry works. I appreciate that there were people ready to answer my queries on both the technical and operational aspects of sports broadcasting. By the end of the second week, I was able to level up in terms of my editing skills, though I know there is still much to learn. I was looking forward to the weeks to come. Week 3 – January 28 to February 3 By this time, I was already being sent to cover actual games, together with another intern partner. The idea of being there in the middle of action proves to be much more exciting than having to stay in the sidelines. Moreover, it means I have to step up and take more responsibility to ensure that I go back to the office with enough new material to report. I was all eyes and ears all throughout the games, focusing not only on the actual activities in the court, but also on the things that popular personalities do during the game. Covering sports entails keen senses and quick thinking. To be able to follow the trail of events, one has to understand the sport itself. It really helped that I am a sports enthusiast for me to perform my responsibility. Besides being able to narrate the sequence of events, I also have my own inputs as to how the games went. As a sports journalist, there has to be a certain level of interest in what you do to be effective. In between covering games, I spend time talking to other members of the Athletics Department, getting inputs as much as I could, on what are the other activities. I also conducted researches, particularly on what the other aspects of sports casting are. I looked into the career paths that the senior people have followed, and tried to envision mine after I graduate from the university. I surmised that although in general, I want to work for a media company as a journalist or news writer, I want to be more into sports casting since this job provides another dimension to the career path that I want to follow. More than being able to practice my degree, I also get to work on activities that spark my interest. This will definitely make my job worth pursuing. Week 4 – February 4 to February 10 When I decided to take up Journalism, the main idea in mind was for me to find a job in a local broadcasting network and eventually move on to national level. When the opportunity for me to learn more about sports casting presented itself, I realized that this is what I really want to do. It was during my third week that I was able to work closely with my internship supervisor Mr. Deni Brave. He took me with him in most of his engagements and meetings with various groups. The mentorship for this period was more of being immersed into the industry as a broadcast journalist. He took me to gatherings that allowed me to be in interaction with other personalities and the athletes themselves. It was a great experience to me both on the professional and personal levels to be able to join in these activities. It was both basketball and football season during the period of my internship so the focus of the department was on these two sports activities. I was taken through the process of preparing the athletes for each game. I came to know their responsibilities as well as the perks of being a team member. On the side, I also did researches to understand the dynamics of athletics better. As a journalist, it is my job to be constantly updated on what’s new with the industry I am in. Later that week, I was asked to prepare a report on how the screening process for the athletic department works. The write up is supposed to highlight what it takes for an athlete to enjoy the perks and privileges extended to him as part of the team. It was definitely a learning experience for me, and this was something I worked on for the next weeks of my internship. Week 5 – February 11 to 17 It was back to editing on my 5th week on internship as I was asked to collate information gathered from my field work and come up with a good report material. I spent most time in the office trying on various editing tools and enhancing videos to transform them into a good news material. At this point, my intern supervisor wanted me to be more hands on doing news production. I also helped out colleagues in their reporting jobs, providing assistance whenever possible. I was glad to have been able to help out in their assignments as it was another learning experience for me to be part of an actual production team. It was like being part of the real thing, seeing fruits of my labor in the outputs being produced by the whole team. My colleagues were pleased with the amount of hard work I was pitching in, noticing that I was really bent on learning the craft within the amount of time I was assigned as an intern. I think I was able to provide substantial inputs on their assignments, and at one point, I was told that a fresh mind provides a new dimension to their highly established reporting system. It made me proud that I have become in synchrony with the whole athletic and sports casting dynamics. Towards the end of the week, I was able to gather more information as far as the athletic department itself is concerned, which is good because it will support the news material that I am supposed to prepare by the end of the internship. To me, the learning process was a cut between serious work and fun, with me enjoying each of those aspects and at the same time, gaining new knowledge from the people I interact with. I was looking forward to a more activities for the whole internship duration. Week 6 – February 18 to 24 It was still production work for me during my 6th week with the department. I joined the team in their activities, performing the tasks of a production assistant. The responsibilities range from the essentials to the mundane, though relatively, I was able to feel part of the system during the process. The best part about being part of a production is being able to interact with people from various backgrounds. It helped enhance my personal skills and allowed me to be exposed to various scenarios in the sports casting business. To have good social and inter-personal skills is one of the points I want to develop before embarking in this internship program. I am quite the introvert type, and more comfortable working with smaller groups, or even on my own. Being with a large team where decisions are performed by multiple parties, I recognized the need for team work and camaraderie in order to get things done. Another benefit of being part of a large group is that I am able to see how things are done from the macro perspective. I have better appreciation of things and I now understand better how production work happens, and the value of each and every person to make things work. I feel that I have so much more to improve. I still get tongue tied interfacing with people, particularly those above my level like top executives, manager and the like. I am also not comfortable speaking for a group not known to me. But slowly, I feel like I can be encouraged to come out of my shell and be highly personable as my dream career certainly calls for it. Week 7 – February 25 to March 3 This week, I got exposed to using Adobe Premier to make highlight videos for the men’s basketball team. It was my first time to use this video editing software so it took me a while to become familiar with the technical aspects of the software. After being able to use it for several days, I came to conclude that I am much more comfortable using this software than Final Cut Pro. Creating a storyline for the highlight video was also a goal that was not too easy to accomplish. I prepared an outline to be able to lay down what I want to see in the video, and also so I could see a sort of continuity in the story development. This is probably an area of journalism that I could say I am good at. I see stories unfolding in my mind even before I am able to find materials that could depict the story flow. I like creating human interest twists in every story. This is something really easy to do with sports casting as there are just too much emotions involved before, during and after a game. The display of human emotions captured on video is probably one of the best things that I could feature. Being trained using various software will eventually help me find a good job as broadcast journalist or sports caster. To be a reporter, it takes more than reporting and news gathering skills. Technology dictates that reporters should train hard to be at par when it comes to finding means to deliver their news to their target audience. There is still so much to learn as far as news editing is concerned. There are and will be plenty more softwares to learn and conquer. The technical skills to come up with a good news material would be something that I need to develop over time, and even until I am already practicing my profession. Week 8 – March 4 to March 10 I continued with my editing work on Week 8, covering softball and football events, which turned out to be something I am not really familiar with. At this point, it became difficult for me to come up with a good news material because I was unaware of the rules of these games, so to speak. This is probably the part of my internship that I least like because I felt like I was at a loss amidst discussions on the game. It proved difficult for me to explain and describe the events one by one as I was not technically equipped with the right know-how. It also did not help that I got minimal guidance during this period. I was set out on my own so I would be able to conquer the challenges with my own efforts. Being alone means I have to rely mostly on my own instincts and efforts to pull the assignment off. I did several researched and spoke with people who may be of help, but the amount of time given to learn about the type of sport was relatively short. I felt that I was not able to deliver the right amount of output for this assignment because of this. The athletics department was likewise busy with other assignments so I was left to rely on myself. I continued with my consultation with my Intern Supervisor regarding my progress, and he said that I will be given an evaluation by the end of my internship period. And so I learned that in the future, it takes a tremendous effort to research and know more about the things I will be covering so I can deliver a good news material. Now knowing the underlying facts means not being able to convey the right message to the target audience. Being able to express news effectively is the essence of being a Journalist. Week 9 – March 11 to March 17 This week, I was delegated to do admin work for the Athletics Department. It was a breather because I actually took a break from all the media and production work that I have done the past couple of months. The department was cleaning up old files and tidying up the back offices, so as an intern, I had to provide assistance in whatever way possible. This means having to sort and file papers, moving around equipment and generally do administrative work for the office. Though somewhat unrelated to my career objective, it turned out okay for me to be doing such things because I was able to see how office work generally happens from the administrative perspective. Offices are not really all about operations and achieving the business objectives, but there are certain aspects that one has to take care of also to get the whole institution moving. The support groups are as essential in mobilizing the operations team into achieving objectives. Tasks, mundane as they may seem, help in building a strong backbone to support the whole group. At this point, I can say that I have significantly gained knowledge as a team member, knowing that in the future, it is important to have a good working relationship with your officemates. Again, on top of the skills that one is supposed to develop, he has to be able to build good working relationships with people surrounding him because it is important to create harmonious working environment for everyone. Each team member has a role to fulfill, and therefore as an individual, there has to be some degree of consciousness as to what his roles are. The goal should ultimately be able to contribute to the objectives as a team without sacrificing the professional relationships within the group. Week 10 – March 18 to 24 It’s the last four weeks of my Internship and so far, I have been satisfied with how things are turning out to be as far as my training is concerned. I know that I am new to the industry and my being a student proves that there is so much to learn, but I am very eager and the desire to have a career in broadcast journalism, particularly as sports caster has never been this strong. This week, I was again delegated to assist in editing jobs by making use of existing videos. At this point, I feel that I already have leveled up in terms of story making and editing skills. I was a lot more confident. I closely worked with one of the in house editors in coming up with a short documentary about athletics. I was asked to create a story line or outline, from which we will base the editing on. It took me three days to complete the storyline, as I had to perform researches and informal interviews. Working closely with a professional provided me a chance to look into things from another perspective. There was no room for mistakes, and I had to put in a lot of work to achieve our collective objectives. I have deepest respect for those who have acquired invaluable knowledge from years of practice, and I see myself gaining as much knowledge in the future by continuously immersing myself into the job. By the end of the week, we were halfway with the project and I could say that I have significantly contributed to the project. It gave me a sense of pride and achievement knowing that I was able to assist in the best way I can to a project. I look forward to the day that I will be able to spearhead similar types of projects and in return, impart knowledge to the younger ones and inspire them to strive hard and work for their chosen profession. Week 11 – March 25 to 31 I now have three weeks more to complete my internship and it was within this week that I was called in by my supervisor to have a rundown of the projects completed and do a preliminary evaluation of my internship. At this point, he relayed to me that somehow, his objectives about me have been met. He was able to see how my skills have improved after weeks of internship, which further gave me motivation to move forward and finish off what remains to be done. This week, I also had an opportunity to work closely with by internship supervisor, while he was at work during games and even during trainings. For this part, my training was more on the subject matter, which is sports, and the technical aspects of the games. My interest in sports was enhanced and reinforced, and I enjoyed learning and understanding the technical aspects of these two sports events. He walked me through basketball and softball trainings and practices, and I was able to meet and interview athletes and learn about how they worked to get into the place they are currently in. I feel that I can now more effectively report on sports events because of this period that I was able to be immersed in the games. I am satisfied with how the internship has happened so far. I am better equipped now that I was 11 weeks ago, in terms of the skills needed as a broadcast journalist. After having been exposed to various sports event coverages, dealing with internal and external customers and enhancing my technical and interpersonal skills, I feel that I am ready to tackle bigger responsibilities and be entrusted bigger projects in the future. Two weeks left to my internship and I am already looking forward to being part of a real news team. Week 12 – April 1 to 7 With two weeks left, I know I had to start working on my final assignment so I can turn it over before my internship is over. I spent most of the time editing and finding the right materials for my final project. I was already given the leeway to spend my internship time according to my deliverables. There were no schedules given. They allowed me to work independently which I something I appreciate because I feel that they already trust me enough to handle my own tasks. At this point, I wanted to experiment more on my reporting style so I also spent time researching on other videos, particularly on YouTube and Vimeo. I was online for most part because I felt that I can get a lot of inputs basing on other people’s works. I encountered similar videos and studied the technical aspects of these projects. It also helped that I was able to receive a lot of inputs from various people the past few weeks. With this, I was able to integrate various ideas to my project, which is very important for me given that I have limited experience in editing and sport casting in general. Their ideas are integral to the success of my work. By the end of the week, I was ready for my first draft. I showed it to my intern supervisor, who in turn, gave inputs as to how to improve the material. I was grateful that he took time to sit down and observe my piece of work. It made me feel that my presence was being valued and that there was a sincere desire to help me out with projects. With this, I told myself that I can give back by being the best that I could be. With one week left to my internship, I was hopeful that I would be able to deliver my best work before the internship period ends. Week 13 – April 8 to 14 It’s my last week with the Department and with high hopes, I continued working on my final project and finally submitted it on my last Thursday with the team. There was very little else to do besides working on my project. I only spent time interacting with colleagues and they were very supportive of my projects as well. My intern supervisor and I had a final evaluation session and most of the discussion was spent on my positive and salient characteristics, how I was able to improve all throughout the internship period and my innate characteristics that would help me pursue my chosen career. He said that my being attentive to details and my obvious desire to learn more are my best characteristics as these would help me find footing ad get by as I go along. I was also told that I need to enhance my interpersonal skills as this would help me find good leads when it comes to new gatherings. Having the right connections would also help me expand my network. Another thing to improve is my technical skills with regards to video shooting, editing and creating the final material. I was advised to enroll in short courses because this would definitely aid me eventually. He also mentioned that technology evolves everyday and it is important, as a news writer to be on his toes always. The past 13 weeks have taught me invaluable experiences that I will bring when I embark on a real journey towards pursuing my choice of career. I am thankful that I was given this chance to work with the Athletics Department and I am happy about who I turned out to be after the internship period. Read More