At the end of my freshman year, I sat in the overly air-conditioned classroom for my first interview ever. I was 15. I wasn’t interviewing for a job or internship, but for Barrington High School’s morning show, “ENN Sunrise.”
At the end of my sophomore year, I stood nervously in that same classroom, asking ENN’s advisor, Mr. West, if anyone had agreed to take me as a summer intern. I had just taken my last final but I was more nervous about what he would say than failing. Words cannot describe the relief I felt when he informed me that I would be interning at a local radio station.
At the end of my junior year, he informed me that I’d be a producer in my senior year. I had already told him that I had been accepted into Prepare RI’s intern program and would be interning at Rhode Island PBS, this time as an Audience Engagement intern. He told me to come back with ideas.
I kept that in the forefront of my mind as I networked and made friends at Prepare RI’s boot camp. I spoke with the videographers and photographers who were working on promotional materials there and learned the model type of the cameras I had been using in the school year with Sunrise. By the time July 8 rolled around, I was equal parts nervous and excited to begin. I had a thousand ideas and questions and just wanted to get started.
The first time I stepped into the Rhode Island PBS building, I was 40 minutes early. I waited in the lobby, leg bouncing and half terrified I’d spill coffee on my white collared shirt. I hadn’t seen Neko Mahony or Khadijah Hilmy, the other interns at Rhode Island PBS, since the boot camp ended, but I could not be more glad when they walked in. We’d be doing this together, even if we were all technically working in different departments.
I was an Audience Engagement intern, which meant that I was mainly working with Faythann Fallon and Allison Magnus. They, along with Sarah Trudeau, encouraged me to learn and ask questions. I came in with a background in Canva from running a few club Instagram accounts, but I had never used Premiere Pro before. I’d never been good at writing descriptions, either, but I was able to learn both those skills. I had a surface level of social media before, but through interning with Rhode Island PBS, I feel that I now understand it much, much deeper.
But social media wasn’t the only thing I learned. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and understanding, especially as I was always somewhere asking questions. I was asking the videographers how their cameras worked or how to wrap cables. Anytime I wasn’t working on graphics or editing, I was asking to sit in on productions. I was asking Jan, the makeup artist, how she learned and what techniques she used. I’d ask the directors about the switcher and the hosts about how they got their rolls and stories. I asked Ross Lippman to show me the equipment room and how the lenses affected the footage they were able to get. I’d be in the studio, asking about the lights and what shading is. I’d be in the server room, asking why they were monitoring all the feeds and how they kept track of it all. I’d pop into Don Curtin’s office and ask him about analytics. I’d ask for help when YouTube couldn’t teach me Premiere or when I wasn’t sure how one of my scripts looked.
Script writing for Rhode Island 101 helped me grow as a writer, mainly thanks to feedback from Alli and Jan Boyd. I also learned how to get permission to use copyrighted materials and improved my skills in Canva. I researched topics ranging from the Glocester Ghoul to pirates and the Rustic Drive-in. I even helped Alli film the reels.
Rhode Island 101 wasn’t the only reels I worked on. I created promo reels for ART Inc. and “Generation Rising,” as well as some for TikTok. I did a “Day in the Life of a Rhode Island PBS’ Intern” and made a “Meet the Interns” spoof based on “The Office” for TikTok to go along with the “Meet the Interns” posts I created for Linkedin, Instagram, X/Twitter, and Facebook. I was given the creative freedom and time to work and create works that I was both passionate about and to a level of quality that helped me grow.
Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the opportunity, experience, and all the amazing people at Rhode Island PBS who answered all my questions and helped me. Thanks to them, I’ll be able to take these skills into my senior year and beyond.
