Polar plunge to VR: Students build field experience through internships

Every year most of the School of Journalism students in their final year take what they've learned in class to newsrooms and communications organizations across the country. We spoke to four students who told us how they made the most of their time at work.

Olivia Wiens is an editorial intern for Canadian Geographic and moved from Toronto to Ottawa for her internship this winter. She reported on events, wrote articles and did copy-editing, supporting the publication however she could.  

How was the application process for your internship?

I started looking for internships in the fall semester. I had my sights set on Canadian Geographic for a very long time. It was my number one choice. They got back to me within a couple of weeks. It was very smooth. After the interview, they offered a remote or a hybrid (internship),, so I could have stayed in Toronto if I wanted to. However, with COVID taking away a lot of my university experience, I wanted to make the extra effort and spend the extra money to move (to Ottawa) and get hands-on experience.

Why was Canadian Geographic your number one choice?

I like writing feature-esque pieces, human-centred rather than hard-hitting breaking news. I wanted to get more into magazine-style journalism, which focuses on feature storytelling pieces. Also, I love the outdoors, nature and environmentalism, so I’ve been reading Canadian Geographic for quite a long time.

They matched the things that I care about and the things that I like writing about. So it was a perfect fit.

How was your first day of the internship?

It was good. My first day was really weird, I sat in on a couple of meetings, the week before I started my internship to get a feel for the team. Turns out they were doing a fundraiser to raise money for their podcast through a polar plunge, where you just jump in a frozen lake in negative degrees. That happened to fall on my very first day, so the week leading up, they're like, ‘Olivia, do you want to do it?’ We went to a lake in Quebec at one of the Canadian Geographic ambassadors’ houses. He has a sauna, so we were in the sauna for 10 minutes before, and we just went out and jumped in and went back into the sauna. So it really, it was honestly quite nice, it wasn't bad at all. It was a bonding experience to get to know the people I'm working with. It was an interesting first day.

What is your daily routine like?

I have to be at the office by 8:30 a.m., so I wake up at 7 a.m., and it takes a half hour to get to my office. On Tuesdays, we have an editorial meeting at 9 a.m., and we go over an article we produce every other week called Wildlife Wednesday, where we gather up new studies and news pieces that have come out in the past weeks about wildlife in Canada. We gather four, five or six of those into an article, and it’s some of our most-read pieces because they're so short and sweet. So, during the meeting, we overlay the plan and pitch things that we’ve seen throughout the week. We also check in and see if there are any updates.

The rest of the day, I work pretty independently, which is nice as I like to work that way. I recently worked on a piece where I interviewed a director of a CBC Gem documentary on wildlife, which was super interesting. My days usually consist of interviews, writing and copy editing things for the magazine. It's all quite fast-paced since we produce a full issue every two months. The day flies by, and at 4:30, I go home, and that's about it.

What surprised you the most about internships?

How much independence I have, I can't speak for every internship, but for mine, they give me assignments and let me run with them, have creative liberties and a lot of freedom. They guide me, especially if I have no idea what I'm doing. Everyone's really nice, and some of them interned with Canadian Geographic before working with them, so they all know the stress of being an intern. They're very communicative and know what’s a good workload for an intern to have.

Kadija Osman was a production intern for CTV’s Etalk at Bell Media during the fall semester and has continued to freelance as a production coordinator for the team. Osman pitched during team meetings, assisted during field shoots outside of the studio, supported the producers and helped with whatever tasks the production coordinators needed.

What did your role as a production intern entail?

I would get in around 8:30 a.m. at the office, so I had time to do a bit of research before our daily morning pitch at 9 a.m. sharp. In that pitch, everyone's involved, so all the senior producers, their production coordinators, hosts, and all of us come together and share the exciting news or events that happened over a 24-hour news cycle. You get to know people better during these meetings as everyone is pitching what they’re interested in and what’s going on in their social circle.

After everything gets decided and the meeting is concluded, I would write up the daily email that gets sent out to everyone listing the run-through for the day, sharing who the hosts are, through the main teasers and segments to be included in the show.

The internship was an opportunity to learn from the producers and help out where I could around the studio after I finished my daily tasks. I learned a lot about how to put together a script based on an interview that one of the hosts did, and one of the greatest pleasures of being an intern is that you can shadow anybody that you wanted to. I was always adamant to let the producers know that I was 100 per cent willing to go on field shoots with them. So, I got to see the team follow through on how to make the script, and how to produce a 10-minute segment into a two-minute 36-second thing for the show, which is cool. My afternoons were pretty free, but when I did go on the field shoot, that was the whole day thing, to be honest.

How did your internship lead to you freelancing for Etalk?

I made my intentions very clear that the Etalk was a dream internship, and it was always what I wanted to do. So they kept that in mind, and they knew that I was going back to school to finish a course. It was a random day, and one of the senior producers messaged me like, ‘Hey, I know you're still in school, but do you want to do freelance for us? We need you from Feb. 6 to March 3 for Oscar prep.’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely. I'll help out with that.’ When I was an intern, I helped out with the Golden Globes. So I made this whole big package of who's going to be there and helped with questions. So they wanted me to help with the Oscars, and I was happy too.

I was working odd hours because I was still in school from like 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and so I'd come home, and it'd be like from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m., but I would clock in my hours. After my six-week course wrapped up, I messaged them to let them know my availability. I’m still working with them and continue to learn how to be a production coordinator and whatever I didn’t learn from my internship beforehand.

How was the application process?

It was genuinely a stressful time. It was late August, and I still didn't have an internship. I knew that Etalk was something that I wanted to do from the get-go. My friend Sahara swears she remembers me talking about Etalk when we first met. I searched for contacts online and found a social media editor at the show. We were emailing and she said they had some internships opening in her section, but I mentioned that I really wanted to work behind the scenes in production. I emailed her but it wasn’t going anywhere, so I thought I was stuck. 

Then I saw a job posting for Etalk internships, and I rushed to send my email to the one listed. They were looking for a part-time 40-hour student or two part-time students up to 20 hours, luckily for me, my schedule was free in the fall, so I made myself available for the 40-hour week posting. I was like, ‘I’m going to commit to everything I can. It’s Etalk. I have to do anything I can.’ I submitted my email and followed up a couple of times, but didn’t hear anything back. Then just before I left with my family for Blue Mountain, I had an interview with them and was told I’d be contacted by Friday if I got the internship. It was Saturday at 5 p.m., and I hadn’t heard back from them. I was in line for ice cream with my family feeling down, and then I got the email. It was one of the greatest moments ever, just having my sister and cousin jump up and down with excitement while waiting in line.

What drew you to Etalk?

I remember back when I had cable TV, I saw this piece they did on TIFF and watched them get all ready for TIFF in a five-episode special. I’ve probably seen it six or seven times. It was just so interesting to me. I love movies and TIFF, so that whole experience made me want to be there doing that job. And entertainment journalism has been my niche forever, so I watched Etalk and all their shows. I knew that if there was ever an opportunity for me to do an internship, I would want it to be at Etalk. I think it was my first year of journalism that I needed to make sure we had an internship option because that was my goal. I just didn’t think it would happen. It was a movie moment for me.

What drew me to Etalk was the people and the content they did. I love that the majority of the hosts were people of colour and reflected the city I grew up in. They offer all kinds of representation for the men and women in Toronto and it’s truly the best crew ever.

Breanna Schnurr is a marketing and communications intern for Dark Slope Studios. Dark Slope is a virtual production studio that uses motion capture technology to create video games, television shows and more using virtual reality (VR).

Can you tell me a bit more about what your role entails?

I work 15 hours a week. Mondays are usually my most intense day. We have a morning company meeting at 10:30 a.m. that everybody on the Dark Slope team joins. We all come together and go through each time, TV production, video game, marketing, etc. and check in on what everybody is doing to keep each other on the same page and time frame for projects. Then at 4 p.m. on Mondays, I have a one-on-one with my supervisor. That meeting is to talk through what the rest of the week looks like for me. I also have another with my supervisor on Wednesday.

I do about three hours each day, so my week is spread out, and I can keep up if something needs to be changed or fixed. A lot of what I’m doing is research. That’s a primary part of my role. I’ve recently gotten into writing articles, So, interviewing other team members of Dark Slope or other collaboration partners on what they’re working on.

Sometimes it's just playing around in VR, like, they want me to get comfortable with that type of thing. I get to mess around with the headset and play games, which is also cool. I also help with website fixes and posts on Instagram. Throughout the week, there are always things to take note of and work on.

What was your application process like and why did you choose it?

I knew I liked video games and thought Dark Slope would be cool. I thought I’d be able to see into the video game work. A lot of the marketing and research stuff they were doing seemed like I could do it without an intensive learning period that I’d have to do on top of my basic internship tasks. Overall it was a very smooth and quick application to hiring process.

As for why I chose it, I'm also just not super sure what I want to do. The internship seemed like a good opportunity to explore my writing. I like research, and the marketing and communications work just fit in there well.

Advice for people doing internships next year?

I would say don’t give up hope when it comes to looking for an internship. It was so nerve-racking because we had been told to start applying to places in November for the winter semester, and I had essentially heard nothing. So, going from no internship to knowing my full schedule in two days is very do-able. There will always be a plan B, C, and D that are available to you.

What are your plans after this internship?

I think right after graduation, I'm taking a break. I'm gonna go work outside or (at least) not be on my laptop for four months and then I'll see what happens. I've learned a lot more about research and analytics. I feel with these tools that I have a lot in my back pocket that can open up avenues even outside of journalism. I think what it comes down to is a job that provides me with an opportunity to learn, benefits and can live my life outside of what it is. That’s the hope.

Christina Flores-Chan is currently a communications intern for Team Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). Through her role, she supports the comms team during meetings, writes releases and works with data.

Can you share what your role entails?

I'm going to a lot of meetings for our comms team, but also sitting in on the marketing meetings. I also help draft releases, so whether it’s a partnership renewal release, announcement or a donation from someone, I draft it for the team. Besides releases, I work a lot on the data end right now and develop earned media reports. Basically, tracking where all the data, numbers and organic publicity come through once we put out a statement or release, or even if we didn’t and people are still mentioning us, I track those analytics. I help see how much money an advertisement would be worth if we did a paid promotion with a news outlet based on the numbers they get when they talk about the COC.

It’s like being on the other end of journalism, and it’s storytelling from the inside. I like to describe marketing as telling a business’s story from the inside out, because who knows a company better than themselves?

What drew you to communications?

Originally, I wanted to be a sports broadcaster. I thought working under a sports channel would be my dream internship, but once I started venturing into a role with the TMU Bold, I realized I like being part of the internal organization more than I did recapping or interviewing at the post-game. I enjoyed telling stories from the inside, where it isn’t just about the game, but about the team or player as a whole.

In my fourth year, I became the lead digital content assistant at the TMU Bold. I got to organize and develop the homecoming campaign, digitally, but also event wise with the themes and key messaging. I loved it and that along with starting to complete my marketing minor had me realize I wanted to do more of the marketing aspect. 

The School of Journalism helped me get there because it equipped me with the skills. I would say my Data Journalism course was one of my favourites, as was Building the Brand with Assistant Professor Adrian Ma. Because I did a marketing minor, Ma did a great job at giving me the freedom to explore that in the class and work on it in a way that wasn’t the traditional journalism path where you would market yourself as a journalist. Instead, I was able to market myself as a storyteller and the portfolio that I handed in at the end is one of the things (I think) that got me the internship.

What surprised you about the internship?

I think that something about the COC is that they care so much about workplace culture. We just won an award for a great place to work and not only did we get that, but we also won best workplaces for women in Canada. I think that at the COC, I was caught off guard by how much they respect their interns' opinions. When I would speak, they cared about my input and I really appreciated that.

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.