Q. Why did you choose to apply to the internship program at PRI's The World? What were your day-to-day responsibilities?
I chose to apply to Public Radio International (PRI’s) The World, also know as “The World,” because I have a passion for international and immigration news and wanted a competitive radio internship as a sophomore. I'm not sure how to pinpoint how I got the position. I'm still surprised about it myself. I think it helps to be vocal about immigration topics and to know a thing or two about the politics behind it. It also helps to have experience with a radio station (so, in my case WMUA and WFCR). I had trained myself to become familiar with Adobe Audition and that made things a lot easier when I started.
My responsibilities included attending the morning meetings, booking interviews, chasing stories, producing stories and writing online content including the social media posts.
I think the coolest part was that I got to have a bbc.co.uk email for the summer.
Q: Are there any journalism classes or extracurricular activities that helped prepare you for your internship?
A: I'm the news editor at WMUA 91.1 FM. I never knew how much I wanted to do radio until I read on air one day as a freshman for the news team. I remember feeling terrified - everybody was listening to me. I was live. But eventually, radio helped me gain my own voice and overcome that anxiety. I started teaching myself how to edit audio via software like Adobe Audition, and I started paying attention to sound. Who knew that I would even come to enjoy working the soundboard!
In terms of my journalistic capability, I owe much to Raz Sibii's Social Justice Journalism class, as well. The focus of the class was immigration. We read a lot of different texts examining its complicated history within the United States. It prepared us to go out into the field and interview immigrants, most of who were undocumented, and thus, vulnerable subjects. The class was set up to be like our own personal news room, except Raz was there to lead us every step of the way as both a professor and editor. We went through real ethical dilemmas that we would have to discuss and resolve. At the end of it all, we were published journalists.
Q: In what ways did your time at PRI help you figure out your future career path?
A: At "The World," I was treated just like any other journalist or radio producer. I would be assigned with a topic, and I would have to chase the story. I would scavenge the depths of Twitter, Facebook, databases and the internet in search for the perfect guest. I would then be able to cut down the pre-recorded interview to about four minutes, which would then air during the live broadcast at 3 p.m. I worked with editors who gave me feedback on my production work, as well as my written work. All in all, I got a sneak peak into what my future journalistic career could look like, and I fell in love with it.
Q: Could you tell us about a specific audio piece or project that you worked on that you really felt connected to?
A: The third day as an intern at "The World," I was sitting at one of our early morning news meetings when I heard that a pitch to find a voice on Germany's recognition of the Armenian Genocide was shot down. As an Armenian myself, I was so upset about it. I complained to my fellow interns and my supervisor about it. Finally my supervisor turned to me and said, "Okay, if you feel this passionate about the story, you're going to make the pitch in tomorrow's meeting." She even announced it to the entire news team at the end of the show that day, which made me feel like I couldn't back out of it.
I ended up staying up reading article after article, desperate to find the perfect angle. Finally I realized that my angle was right in front of me - or at least, right there on my Twitter feed. An Armenian journalist, whom I've admired and followed for several months, now had tweeted about how a Turkish politician in Germany had championed for its recognition of the Armenian Genocide. I emailed her immediately, and she responded. She said she loved "The World" and Marco Werman, and she'd be delighted to do the interview.
I rushed into the newsroom the next morning - sweating, because I thought I would get shot down. When I said I had a guest lined up, ready to speak to us about it, the show producers took it. They seemed impressed, even. Two months later, when it was my last day at the studio, I had some reporters tell me that they won't forget that pitch I had made. And I won't forget it either.
Lucy plans to graduate in 2017, and you can see her work for PRI's The World here.
She also wrote three stories for the 2016 Social Justice Journalism course:
• "Restaurant jobs both a blessing and a curse for recent immigrants"
• "Hadley resident recalls life in Armenia before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union"
• "'I don't think I was ever undocumented,' Mexican immigrant says of move to the U.S."