Be honest. When you hear the word “intern,” what’s the first thing you think of?
common conceptions
The kids who do work that no one else wants to do. The desperate, “gotta-get-your-foot-in-the-door-somehow” college students. Fetching coffee, faxing documents (wait, do people still fax?), basically sucking up in order to get that key letter of recommendation…that’s what most people think of when they think “intern.”
From what I hear, the majority of internships are like that. I’ve heard tales of strenuous manual labor, 4:30 a.m. wake-up times, and questionable exposure to toxic chemicals. All for the sake of college credit. Very little is being learned, yet everybody who wants to get ahead and show future employers that they have “experience” is killing themselves over it. In fact, there have been several articles written detailing the realization that internships may, in fact, be something akin to “the new slaves.” Slaves in the sense that, when it comes down to it, many internships are companies taking advantage of free labor.
Many of my friends tell me that that’s the way it is. And that’s why I’m lucky to have this internship.
I didn’t realize it at first, but I am extremely fortunate to have this opportunity. As my internship draws to a close this Thursday, I count myself fortunate that I actually contributed in a meaningful way, contributed in a way that’s hopefully going to impact the Rochester Red Wings in-house broadcasting for years to come.
This batch of interns has been extremely proactive. Not content with merely doing what we’re assigned, we’ve taken measures to improve the quality of the broadcasts put forth on Time Warner Sports Network (channel 26 if you live in the Rochester area). Together, we’ve redesigned the graphics system. The old one looked like it was from 2003 (it was). The new one looks like FOX’s TV graphics. They’re going to be using this system for years to come.
We’ve started producing, directing, writing, and acting as talent for pregame recaps. The recaps air on the giant scoreboard in left field before the game, and we give a Sportscenter-style highlight presentation to the attending fans. Here are a couple of my own recaps, linked below:
I’ve also had the honor of personally designing the new logo for in-house production, Red Wings TV. The finalists included:
this
and
this.
before we finally decided on:
This current iteration has recently been integrated into the broadcasts, melded into the graphics as you can see in the July 27th recap.
Not only that, but I also got to work on a project that I didn’t know I’d always wanted to do: I created a pump-up/rally/pregame video for the Red Wings’ Star Wars Night promotion. As soon as my boss mentioned off-handedly that he was thinking of splicing together a highlight reel consisting of Red Wings footage and Star Wars clips, I pestered him until he finally let me do it. I’ve posted the results below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au_63iDcMM8&feature=context-cha
Although it doesn’t have the greatest production value, I can’t tell you how cool it was to see it up on the Jumbotron. Or to be able to make my own lightsaber effects.
I haven’t even gotten into what I’ve actually learned during the course of this internship. It is a lot. We’ll save that for next time, but I guess the point I’m trying to make through this post is that through fortunate circumstances, flexible superiors, and the desire to make an impact, the 2012 Rochester Red Wings interns have made their stamp on the in-house broadcasting. It’s going to be great to be able to apply for a job and point to my work in Rochester as a sort of portfolio.
From what I hear, I’m fortunate to have all of these opportunities to actually do something during my internship. Trust me, I couldn’t be more grateful.