Student Profiles

Internship Paves the Road to Reality

It's a wrap at ABC News for UMass Amherst Intern Samantha
Frontiera ’08, pictured here with part of the crew she worked
with last semester. Standing, left to right: Chuck Lofthouse,
shooting manager; Brad LaRosa, producer at BarWal
productions; Frontiera; Jen Joseph, producer for Primetime;
Rebecca, Charlie Gibson's assistant. Seated: Betsy Shuller,
BarWal productions producer; Barbara Walters; Charlie
Gibson; and executive producer Martin Clancy. “Landing an internship requires diligence,” says Samantha Frontiera ’08 (psychology and journalism), who just wrapped up a semester-long production stint at ABC News in New York. Meeting important people, like Barbara Walters and Charlie Gibson, was interesting, but most important, Frontiera says, was the immeasurable experience. “The contacts are awesome. I’d love to get into production, hopefully with ABC, and go from there, maybe to a reporting job at a local station and see where that takes me. That’s the funny thing in this industry. You never know where one job or internship will lead, or whom you’re going to meet.”

Frontiera is a go-getter. She chose to attend UMass Amherst because of the opportunities and has made the most of them. “The place has something for everyone, from the beautiful environment to the numerous academic departments. There are incredible resources, but taking advantage of them is your decision.”

Before declaring a major Frontiera “dipped into” many different subjects. “I found psychology to be absolutely fascinating, and worked in the department for four semesters. I got to know a lot of professors—and I would strongly urge others to do the same. Professors want to help you succeed, and they enjoy getting to know their students.”

Because broadcast journalism continued to tweak Frontiera’s curiosity, she decided to double major. “I told B.J. Roche, my advisor, early on about my dream of becoming an on-air reporter. She really revved me up, pointing out on- and off-campus opportunities. We spoke about interning on weekends and then for a semester, possibly in New York. The message I got was: depending on how hard I wanted to work, the further I’d get.”

In fall 2006 Frontiera had her own beat covering SGA for the Daily Collegian. She also took Broadcast Journalism with Dave Madsen, ABC40 (Springfield) anchorman who incorporated the UMass Amherst TV station UVC19 into his course. Frontiera recalls, “I thought that an SGA segment on the station’s ‘UMass This Week’ would make sense. Besides doing on-site interviews with senators, I helped with production. Sometimes I anchored the campus news, too. I miss that.”

It was a particularly busy semester for Frontiera, because she landed a weekend internship at ABC40. “It was exciting to be in a car with a general assignment reporter, waiting for calls to go from one place to another. Sometimes we did live shoots. Everyday was different. I handled some interview parts used for voiceovers—and it was awesome to watch the news knowing that the question I asked got that response.”

A French minor, Frontiera spent the next semester in France. “I fell in love with the culture and kind of adopted the ‘relaxed’ attitude while there: I had applied to “Good Morning America” for an internship, but didn’t follow up. Needless to say, I didn’t get it. Last fall, I made my way again to Jeff Silver at Career Services to review the many different internships and co-ops available. All you have to do is log on to the website and database and begin searching. The staff is incredibly enthusiastic and made me realize I should apply for a large network internship.”

Frontiera applied to four, heard back from one, and ended up with “20/20 Primetime,” assigned to work the “What Would You Do?” series with John Quinones. “I went on shoots and did a lot of grunt work like logging tapes and transcribing. But I worked diligently, and got more and more responsibilities,” Frontiera says. “Oprah fell in love with the show and had JQ on for an hour. When we were done with the shoots, the production team for the Barbara Walter’s book special ‘Audition’ requested me. Because there was no production assistant, I had the responsibilities of one.”

This project engrossed Frontiera for the rest of her internship. Obtaining city permits, attending shoots, and delivering case sensitive materials were only part of the job. With Barbara Walters Production Company, Frontiera researched air-histories of Walters’ early days in broadcasting. At the Paley Media Center she tracked down old footage of Johnny Carson spoofing Walters. Working overtime without pay wasn’t unusual. “Some days I’d get up at 4 a.m. and not get home until 11 p.m. It was crazy, but so well worth it—and I met all the ladies from ‘The View,’ Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Downs, Don Hewitt, Whoopi Goldberg and even Barbara’s best friend Joyce Ashley.”

Pay is a downside of most internships. Historically, they pay little or nothing, plus students face expenses of housing, food and transportation that can be staggering in larger metropolitan areas. Such costs can force students to decline fabulous opportunities. The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences offers some internship scholarships, but not nearly enough to cover the demand. Frontiera had no assistance.

“I took out another loan,” she says. “Fortunately, I was able to stay with the parents of my friend Pilar Arguelles, a freshman dorm-mate, in West Harrison, N.Y. They were so generous, but the commute was a challenge. I’d take a train, and to save $20 a week in subway fares, I’d walk 21 blocks to and from work—unless it was raining. The train was $17.50 a day, plus $6.50 to park my car at the station. This was the first semester ABC paid interns, but it was hard.”

This summer Frontiera is back home in Ipswich, Mass., working as a nanny. “I’m focused on making as much money as possible so I can get back to NYC. ‘What Would You Do?’ offered me a freelance, temporary position, but it didn’t offer benefits or enough hours a week on which to support myself. And because I did this amazing internship and studied abroad, I have two courses left to complete online for journalism…and they’re accumulating credit-card interest. Plus, in six months I must begin paying off my loans. Believe me, I’ll keep in touch with my contacts at ABC and see what might be available in the fall. I have good vibes. I’ve made the most of my four years at UMass, and it feels awesome.”

May 19, 2008