For the past seven months, I have been fortunate enough to intern in Utica’s Communication and Media program with The Tangerine and UticaTV. Through OHM BOCES’s Regional Program for Excellence, which provides internships for high achieving high school students, I was placed at Utica University to learn more about the communications field.

I have always loved to write and be creative, so communications has always interested me. Since this topic is not heavily represented in high school settings, I was always curious about what it was like. Having hands-on experience has confirmed to me that this is the field I want to study in college.

At the beginning of my internship, I worked on weekly articles for The Tangerine where I mostly wrote about sports and an occasional movie review. Writing about sports recruiting and the New York Yankees allowed me to publish articles I was passionate about. Over at UticaTV, I learned how to write dialogue for a news broadcast and how to run a teleprompter. 

In the second semester, I honed in on interviewing skills at The Tangerine. Interviewing people like passionate Buffalo Bills fans, lacrosse student athletes and Men’s Hockey coach Gary Heenan helped me understand that it is just as important to ask the right questions as it is to write a great article. 

When Utica Men’s Basketball competed in the Empire 8 playoffs, I was able to help produce a “Utica Gameday” with UticaTV. The hosts of the brand new “4 J’s Show” sat down live to talk about the upcoming game at Miga Court where they analyzed both teams and picked who they thought would win. 

“Utica Gameday” continued with Men’s Hockey when they played in the NCAA DIII Semi-Finals and National Championship. At both of the hockey games, I worked with audio levels, making sure that the hosts’ voices were heard yet not overpowering.

During the weekly “4 J’s Show” in the studio, I have also handled graphics, teleprompting and learned directing techniques. 

Challenges also came with learning new equipment and the technical side of communications. However, the most fun part of my internship was being creative while learning in a college setting, since the transition from high school to college would have been more difficult without this internship.

Next year, I plan to continue in the field of communications at Siena College as a sports communications major. Thanks to this internship, I will be better prepared to succeed in a college setting.

I would like to thank Mary Christopher, The Tangerine staff, Laura Lewin, Nico Leonard, and everyone at UticaTV for welcoming me into your program and providing support to something that was brand new to me. 

Kate Gaffney is a senior at Whitesboro High School and graduates in June.