{"id":30658,"date":"2021-08-24T14:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=30658"},"modified":"2021-12-01T16:14:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T21:14:17","slug":"interns-living-out-their-dreams","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/interns-living-out-their-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"Interns Living Out Their Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On the July 29 broadcast of <em>The Today Show<\/em>, anchors Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/video\/interns-take-over-my-today-plaza-on-national-intern-day-117581893512\">introduced the program\u2019s team of summer interns<\/a> in honor of National Intern Day. While Roker and Guthrie were sitting at their news desk in Tokyo, where they were covering the Summer Olympics, the 15 interns appeared on Zoom from all around the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the top left of the Zoom grid, wearing a red BU T-shirt, was Alexandra Ross, the first\u2014and one of the only interns\u2014whom Guthrie introduced. \u201cI really was at a loss for words,\u201d Ross (\u201922) says. \u201cThat moment is something I\u2019ll remember for my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"wp-block-editorial-aside alignright test-block-editorial-aside\">\n<h3><strong>2021 COM Fellows<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Gabriella Lopez (\u201922): Investigative reporting intern GBH<\/li><li>Alexandra Ross (\u201922): Television intern at The Today Show<\/li><li>Sari Cohen (\u201922): Tonight Show with Don Lemon intern at CNN<\/li><li>Johanna Lapuyade (\u201922): Television and podcast intern at America\u2019s Test Kitchen<\/li><li>Grace Ferguson (\u201922): Off-camera multimedia journalism intern at Gray Television<\/li><li>Will Andronico, Jr. (\u201922): VICE Media intern<\/li><li>Ali Audet (\u201922):&nbsp; Radio Boston intern<\/li><li>Jenny Kornreich (\u201922): News desk intern at WBUR<\/li><li>Sarah Ju (\u201922): Unscripted publicity intern at NBCUniversal<\/li><li>Alyssa Winn (\u201923): Podcasting intern at MuddHouse Media<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>Ross is one of 10 students who received backing through the COM Fellows Fund to participate in media internships at companies including WBUR, Gray Television and NBC. The fund, available to COM juniors and seniors, was established by an anonymous donor and provides students with up to $10,000 each to pursue positions that might be unpaid or pay very small stipends. The college has also developed partnerships with leading media and communication organizations, which reserve internships for fellows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program debuted in fall 2020, funding three students who participated in internships at GBH, America\u2019s Test Kitchen and Gray Television. However, Patrick Nelson, director of COM Career Services, says the program will move forward with a focus on funding summer internships. Next year, it will support a new crop of 10 students (see bottom of story for more information on applying).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>Living the Dream<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For Ross, the <em>Today<\/em><em> <\/em>internship was a dream long in the making. Six years ago, she stood with her mother outside <em>Today<\/em>\u2019s studio, on Rockefeller Plaza, holding a sign that read, \u201cNatalie, can I do the news with you?\u201d It worked. Ross was invited into the studio to read some of the day\u2019s headlines alongside <em>Today<\/em><em> <\/em>anchor Natalie Morales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the National Intern Day segment, the show displayed a still photo from when Ross was invited into the studio all those years ago. Over Zoom, Ross spoke with Roker and Guthrie about the full-circle experience. \u201cI still have the poster. It looks exactly the same\u2026 I have it right here,\u201d she told them before holding it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to be a journalist practically my whole life,\u201d says Ross, who counts Guthrie as her ultimate role model. \u201cMy standard answer anytime I\u2019m asked what I want to do or be when I grow up is simply her name. I think she\u2019s just brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During her internship, Ross researched celebrities and artists to help the show\u2019s producers prepare segments and assisted in recording Zoom interviews between anchors and guests. She also worked the overnight shift during the Olympics, transcribing audio and logging footage. She even pitched some story ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m quite literally living out my dream,\u201d says Ross, reflecting on the internship. \u201cHow many people can say that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3><strong>A Breadth of Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>COM Fellow Sari Cohen also got to experience firsthand the excitement of working behind the scenes on a popular news program she has long admired. Cohen (\u201922) interned with CNN\u2019s <em>Don Lemon Tonight<\/em>, where she got to assist with many different aspects of the show\u2019s production. She helped pitch and schedule guests, selected video and audio clips, assisted in writing some segments and created graphics for the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"450\" height=\"486\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2021\/08\/com-fellows-sari-cohen-inside.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-30675\"\/><figcaption>COM Fellow Sari Cohen interned at CNN.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Cohen called the internship \u201ca once in a lifetime opportunity&#8230; To me, there is no better way to improve as a journalist than to learn from the best and work on a daily live news broadcast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two other COM Fellows, Johanna Lapuyade and Will Andronico, Jr., also gained valuable experience working in development and production internships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andronico (\u201922) interned with New York City-based VICE Media, where he worked remotely from Boston with the company\u2019s television development team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a big fan of their work, and I thought there was a lot of incredible stuff going on at the company,\u201d Andronico says, citing both their television and web productions. \u201cThis internship showed me a huge breadth of what goes into the development of unscripted television series, from the creative development to production to analytics. It was like a crash course in TV development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Andronico was able to sit in on pitch meetings, observe how budgets and schedules for shows were developed and helped examine Nielsen ratings and other analytics to inform future show development. He says the experience gave him insight into what he might want to do when he graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy strengths lie in the production and the data and analytics side of things. This internship helped me realize I would be great at helping creative people build their project into something that\u2019s really successful,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the COM Fellows Fund has been an incredible help. It allows you to explore potential career paths and get the experience that\u2019s needed, without working additional jobs to pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-yellow-background-right\"><p>I\u2019m quite literally living out my dream. How many people can say that?<\/p><cite>\u2014Alexandra Ross (\u201922)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Lapuyade also says her internship helped her get important experience for her future career. Lapuyade (\u201922) interned with the television and podcast teams at Boston-based food media company America\u2019s Test Kitchen, where she worked on Season 22 of the company\u2019s eponymous cooking show, helping with script and recipe research, cleaning up podcast transcripts and reviewing episodes in post-production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was also given the opportunity to tailor her internship to her specific interests. When she told her supervisors that she hopes to pursue a career in writing for children\u2019s media, they connected her with the producer of their podcast tailored to kids, <em>Mystery Recipe<\/em>, who invited Lapuyade to produce a segment for an episode in the upcoming season. Lapuyade saw the segment through from pitching ideas to writing the script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m so grateful that they gave me the opportunity to take on such a big project,\u201d she says. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see how it turns out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"block-cta block-cta-button\">\n\t<div class=\"block-cta__content\">\n\t\t<h2 class=\"block-cta__title\">Live Your Dream<\/h2>\n\t\t<p class=\"block-cta__description\">The 2022 COM Fellows application will go live in February. Contact COM Career Services at comjobs@bu.edu with any questions.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"block-cta__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"block-cta__button button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/for-current-students\/career-services\/\">\n\t\t\t\tContact Us\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the July 29 broadcast of The Today Show, anchors Al Roker and Savannah Guthrie introduced the program\u2019s team of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":30666,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[962,9,3,876],"tags":[1616,1617,156],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/30658"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/30658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30681,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/30658\/revisions\/30681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30658"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=30658"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=30658"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=30658"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=30658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}