SAN DIEGO — Given today’s difficult job employment opportunities in this country many people are going back to community college like Grossmont to obtain
twenty first Century skills to make them competitive in the job market. I am one of those people who lost his job and decided to attend Grossmont to pursue a career in television or radio broadcasting.

A broadcasting internship allowed me to get my foot in the door and gain actual experience. Getting an internship in television is just as competitive
as getting a job, there are so many applicants and only few internship spots available at each station. Being a student at a community college to is also an additional hurdle I had to overcome because most stations prefer to take juniors and seniors at a four-year university. After going to six different interviews my options to be an intern for the fall semester looked grim but right before the deadline to withdraw I received a “yes” from the local public Broadcasting Station KPBS. I was assigned to work KPBS’s brand new local news program “Evening Edition”.

“Evening Edition,” hosted by Joanne Faryonand Dwane Brown, focuses on local politics, policy, environment, education, and informative information on what’s happening  in San Diego. For my first couple of weeks my main responsibility was to observe the journalist, producers, editors, and production staff on the set.

I was also incharge of doing simple tasks like cleaning cups for the guests; getting the reporter to come on camera; and delivering scripts to the anchors.
That may not sound like the most exciting start to an internship but I made the most of my time at the studio by asking questions to the anchors, production staff, and producers. I inquired about how they got their start, if they did an internship, and if they were offered a job after their internship. But the most important question I asked was what is the ideal intern in your opinion? The majority of the responses was be proactive. So that’s what I did. I was constantly looking for opportunities to help out without being asked or anticipating what may come next to make somebody’s job easier. My hard work paid off and my first big break in the internship came on Halloween, when there was a thin staff due to the holiday.

I got to operate one of the main cameras for the newscast, a big responsibility since the camera I was operating was on the main anchor. It went great and I did not mess up operating the camera.  On my next day at the internship I was asked to do a different task that was not in the studio. I was beginning to rethink
that maybe the camera operation did not go that well but my new assignment was even much more important. I was asked to help a journalist research some facts for the story she was doing. I dove head first into this assignment and my savvy computer skills came in handy for this assignment. I quickly found the information the journalist was looking for and was even more detailed about the facts that what was needed.

The journalist was extremely thankful for my services and even the senior news editor complimented me. It was then suggested that I should do more of it for all journalists when I’m in. In addition to doing investigative journalism I have been putting my video editing skills to use by helping out the editors and journalists with their news packages.

I am doing my best to be a proactive intern at KPBS because I realize the television industry is all about making connections and being in the right place at the right time. I have not been offered a job yet in the television industry but from doing this internship I am meeting influential individuals in the business. My hope is when a job does come along they will think of what a valuable asset I was during my internship. Having the opportunity to do an internship from Grossmont College is a life changing experience and I’m very thankful that the college is able to provide these opportunities to the students who need
it.

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Minnich is a student in the GC Media Communications Department