These past few weeks of my internship have been full of reflection and hands-on experience, which I am excited to showcase as part of my final project and news portfolio.

As I go through all of the work I’ve done for my final project, I am grateful for the chances WAVY has provided me to advance my career in the journalism field.

I truly value the hands-on experience that this internship provides. My favorite aspect has been the ability to learn from specific experiences that each WAVY employee has had during their career in the news industry.

I had a lot of fun getting to know the employees. It provided me with more opportunities to learn from them on both a professional and personal level.

I found myself spending a lot of time with news photographer, Cortez Grayson, since he was always willing to go above and beyond to teach me new skills and refine those I had learned earlier in the internship. He performed an excellent job of informing me whether my work was ideal or needed improvement.

Dana and Amaya on the newsroom assignment desk have been a tremendous assistance throughout my internship, ensuring that I am on top of all of my responsibilities as an intern. I truly appreciate Michael’s assistance in teaching me video editing skills while I was editing my final assignment. And, of course, thanks to producer Bob Bennett for guiding me and offering these incredible possibilities for a memorable experience here at WAVY. All of the employees were really friendly and eager to assist me with any job that came my way. It was a privilege simply to be able to see them as they arrived at work each day. All of the reporters and news anchors I shadowed along the way taught me so much.

I had a lot of fun working on the last two projects. I had the opportunity to perform a general news studio read alongside my fellow intern Shane. In addition, I put together a news package on the Hampton fire, which I covered a few months ago. Those last two projects really helped me put together the main skills I’ve been honing as a news intern, which include strong written and verbal communication skills.

This internship has provided me with everything I could have hoped for and more. On the first day, I was asked to close my eyes and then write down exactly what I wanted to get out of my time at WAVY. I jotted down confidence and experience. This internship has given me just that. Because of the amount of experience that I was granted, I am now quite optimistic and confident that my journalism abilities will be able to convert into work in the news field. Thank you!