Journalism Career Fair-Connor Bell

Connor Bell

Prof Henry

Journalism 200

21 October 2014

                                                Journalism Career Fair

            Dressed in my business causal outfit and high hopes in my mind, I set off to the Stamp Grand Ball Room for the Journalism Career fair. I didn’t know what to expect at first, I was nervous because I felt underdressed; I had no suit or tie just a casual preppy look was all I could find in my closet. When I first got to the fair, I checked in at the names table and thank God I only had to write my name down and didn’t have to go in with the label of “freshman” on my chest. Inspired by a new confidence I rode that confidence like a wave into the ballroom and immediately saw where I wanted to go.

There was a booth for DC internships set up in the far back corner of the fair that nobody was in line for. As a man who went to high school in DC for 4 years I had a pretty good understanding of D.C.’s surrounding and thought this possible internship would be good for me. I walked up to the man running the booth and when I shook his hand it was like rest of the room was empty and my could only hear the sound of his voice. The man’s name was Matt and he described to me that Capitol Hill and other government locations around DC were looking for young writers for summer internships. The interns would live in DC for a month and work on different speeches and news broadcasting stations all around the area. I loved this idea s much so I took as much brochures on it as possible and read up well on the subject. The next booth was ABC 8 Channel 7 News that I was excited for because I always wanted to see scripts for the news and to be able to edit them as well. Unfortunately for me, ABC was only hiring and interning Juniors and Seniors, so the nice woman gave me her card and said she would try and do her best to remember my name in years to come when I would actually be eligible for the internship.

            The third and final booth I went to was a booth for the Discovery Channel, which is hiring summer interns to work at their local head quarters in Silver Spring, MD. My intention was to write or edit scripts for this company when they do their nature documentaries and to be able to travel to the places they film those documentaries as a result. I have always loved those documentaries so I thought it would be really amazing just to see one up close, let alone work on one live.

`           In total I feel the career fair was a huge success. I didn’t get a job on the spot but I learned valuable information about different companies and what they’re looking for in a journalism major intern. I will most likely try and get the Discovery Channel summer internship, as that seemed the most appealing to me. Now all that’s left to do is become a better writer by the day and grow older until I can finally get more internship opportunities in the fair in years to come.