My Step Project: Internship at WOSU

My STEP project this summer entailed an internship at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio from May to August. I worked on daily production of the show, as well as producing content of my own for the show.

My understanding of myself changed greatly through the course of this experience. I have never really had to apply myself to do well when it came to school, I was always naturally smart and skated by easily. This lax approach to work changed immediately once I was the only person in charge of certain tasks at my internship. It was difficult for me to make that change and have people relying on me every day to get things done, especially when I felt I didn’t know exactly what was being asked of me. I am not a person of routine or consistency, but this internship challenged me to be what I am not on a daily basis.

While I am still unsure what kind of authoritative approach motivates me to do my best work, I do know that if I am in an environment I find enjoyable, I want to get my work done. However, I am unsure if independent work is the best fit for me. Additionally, my assumptions of how much I can take post-graduation have changed drastically. I know many people work several jobs to pay rent and get by, however, I found I need to have a good work-life balance in order to stay motivated and focused.

The experience that challenged my assumptions of how hard I can work myself was due to working at a bar till 4 a.m. several nights a week, as well as every weekend, and then going to my internship at 9 a.m. This burning-the-candle-at-both-ends proved to only hurt my performance at my internship. As for the kind of work environment I would like to work in, I found myself enjoying my job outside of my internship much more. News can be very stressful, with crazy deadlines that make everyone in the work place high strung. But what I found is that you either live for the stress or let it eat you alive. Many news production teams are understaffed, due to the changing media landscape that has caused news budgets to take a hit, which often leads to stressful situations that could be improved with more professional help. I like the stress of news but fear I would burn out in the industry quickly.

I appreciate how my bosses treated the internship as a learning experience and wanted the interns to get as much out of it as possible. We were pushed to pitch story ideas every week for the show and would have a discussion as to how to shape the story so it could work for the show or why that story wouldn’t work for the show. I really feel like I learned a lot about news and what it takes to run a show. In that sense, a collaborative and thoughtful work place sounds the most ideal for me. While I am self-motivated it is to a point, I still need that authoritative push to stay on track and get things done. It may be because I am new to the field and feel like my work isn’t as good or appreciated, therefore, I need that reassurance that my work makes a difference. Or it may be that I work better in groups and need that sense of teamwork to keep me on track. This is something I have made note of to look for in my future work.

I cannot say that my daily tasks and daily routine have made a lasting impact into who I am as a worker. I can say that those tasks made me realize I like learning how to do things and do them well for a company. However, I need to be challenged. Once I feel I’ve mastered a task, I need to move on to something else, otherwise I get bored and start to resent the work I have to get done. The daily tasks at my internship started to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, for lack of a better analogy. I am a bit concerned that there is no job out there that I would not get bored of, but I am also willing to admit that many internships aren’t exactly challenging work due to the limited time frame companies get to train you and that they aren’t always a true reflection of the work field.

The reporters that worked for WOSU were very helpful in giving insight into what the field is like. I got to talk with a reporter about her former experience working for TV news which I found very enlightening and useful. She explained it was a lot like the radio show in that it is high strung and taxing on the mind, body, and soul. I went into journalism because I am a naturally curious person and love talking to people, but I have found that it can be very lonely as you’re only talking to people that are new to you for a short amount of time until you’re forced to move on and do the next story. It feels impersonal, though it is a very personal line of work. News is in my blood and is very much a part of my identity, but it isn’t matching well with the rest of my identity. I am hoping that I can find a way to combine who I am with news in a better way so I don’t feel like my work is a never-ending broken thread of brief, forgotten connections.

This change is significant because it has challenged everything I thought I knew I liked and wanted in this field. Going forward academically, I will try to see my work as a challenge, which won’t be difficult when it comes to my capstone project. I will try to connect with as many people as possible before I graduate to see what kind of path options are available for me in journalism and outside of journalism. I feel that I have something to add to a company and that I can excel well wherever, but it won’t be long lasting unless I feel it is the right fit for me and the company. I want to make sure I don’t settle for just any job because of the societal pressure to graduate and have one. I don’t want to be jobless but I also don’t want to burn bridges at a job I don’t enjoy because I thought I should take the job to have one. I don’t have a concrete plan right now but the only way to create a plan is to do research and find out what is out there so I can become inspired and have a goal of what I want to do once I graduate. This isn’t the best timing to realize I don’t like the majority of what I know major has to offer me, but I am always in the pursuit of happiness and am sure that whatever I end up doing I will be or will make sure I am happy.

 

Here’s a picture of my fellow intern, Joe Matts, at the Ohio State Fair where we did a live broadcast of our show for the public.