In Spring 2023, the School of Media and Journalism hosted visits from multiple television stations and news organizations, all of whom were in search of qualified students to engage as summer interns or full-time employees following graduation. We were delighted to have a chance to show off!
The primary objective of these visits was to forge stronger connections with partners in the industry by showcasing our students’ terrific work, demonstrating our instructors’ commitment to maintenance of professional standards and letting the world know that MDJ is the place for talented young professionals hungry for opportunities in broadcasting.
National representatives from Scripps and Spectrum came by Franklin Hall. So, too, did teams of reporters, news directors and others from WDRB in Louisville and WKYC in Cleveland. A visit from Gray Television’s WOIO was postponed until fall. Other groups have already been in touch to schedule for Fall 2023. The scouts have their eyes on our students, and we couldn’t be happier.
For each visit, guests had the opportunity to watch a live TV2 news broadcast and share their notes with the crew and Franklin Hall’s studio coordinator/adjunct instructor JoAnn Larsen. Students also had the chance to meet one-on-one with recruiters to share their reels, practice interviewing and learn about career opportunities.
Without fail, the feedback I received from visitors after the fact was about the caliber of our students, the commitment of our faculty and the “red carpet” service provided by the school and the college as we welcomed these industry leaders to Franklin Hall.
Look for future issues of Jargon to share details about opportunities some of our students are pursuing thanks to relationships forged during the visits, but Associate Professor Mitch McKenney summed it all up nicely when he said, “It all just shows our students are really well positioned to get internships and jobs in television.”
Indeed, for students wondering where the opportunities are these days, broadcast offers a promising path. The number of calls we’ve fielded in recent semesters from stations and corporations wanting to visit a class, review student work, offer internships and full-time jobs and more, points to the fact that students with reporting and producing experience are highly sought after.
But so, too, is expertise on the production and engineering front. With our new minor in broadcast engineering technology launching in Fall 2023, our students will have the opportunity to earn a transcriptable credential showing they possess the technical skills necessary to succeed in production engineering. Even though the minor isn’t yet available, in Spring 2023, 17 students enrolled in our broadcast engineering course earned the first level of certification from the Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE). This is a key credential required for those seeking a career in the broadcast engineering space. We’re proud of them – and the nearly identical number of students who passed the test last year! — and are grateful to adjunct instructor Sam Angello who encourages the students to do their best work while showing them how fun broadcast engineering can be.
It's been a great few months for MDJ and for our students who live for television, broadcasting, production and more. We look forward to more of this in the fall. These successes, and the ones still to come are the fruits of the labor of our hard-working students, faculty and staff colleagues, and MDJ’s well-deserved reputation for putting students first as we work to prepare them for life after graduation.