If you want to know what achieving ultimate career success feels like before the age of 20 just ask college sophomore Michelle Chavez.
Chavez, a triple major in broadcast journalism, business management and French, has made success in her journalism career a number one priority and her drive has led her to incredible opportunity.
During her first year at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill School of Journalism she interned at CBS radio, a network reaching the DC and Baltimore market. With no prior radio experience she applied on a whim and was shocked when she was offered the opportunity.
“I did not think I deserved it because I had no radio experience at all. I didn’t even know how to use (Adobe) Audition which is the most basic radio tool that you need,” Chavez revealed. “They taught me so much.”
This semester Chavez received an internship with NBC 4 in Washington, D.C. and could not be more excited. She gets the opportunity to shadow reporters, write for the web, and see what the whole process of creating a story for a major news outlet looks like.
“I get to shadow a reporter almost every week and each reporter has advice worth listening to,” Chavez said. “ I’ve also gotten to shadow a producer almost every week in the evening.”
The NBC internship is usually not offered to students in their sophomore year, but after meeting with their human resources representative at the journalism career fair Chavez kept in contact and the representative took her on a tour of the station where she met the internship coordinator and kept in touch with him as well.
With her credits Chavez is currently at junior standing and was able to apply for the position. After her interview she was confident that she would not get a call back, but a week later they offered her the internship. She was also weighing an offer from WUSA9, a CBS network affiliate station, but decided that NBC was the best option this semester.
Although her job appears fabulous now, Chavez started out like many other aspiring journalists working for her high school newspaper. Her work there led her to the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference, and a short term internship with Univision at the Washington bureau, an opportunity only offered to juniors and seniors in college,
During her senior year of high school Chavez applied to the Emma Bowen Foundation, an organization that places minority students with media companies for four years. She was admitted to the program and started working at C-SPAN the day after her high school graduation and has every summer with them guaranteed.
Michelle Chavez practices anchoring while at C-SPAN.
“Many people tell me I have made it but I don’t really think that yet,” Chavez said. “ I look at this as a great opportunity but I have to keep trying because if I can do this it means I have the potential to do much more.”
Chavez’s plate seems pretty full as it is as she also serves on the executive boards of the Maryland Association of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists. Chavez also finds the time to fulfill her duties as a Diamondback multimedia reporter and volunteer at the Capital News Service.
“It’s really difficult to balance everything, so I do a lot of multitasking,” Chavez said. “Everyday, I think of what I need to do and try to plan out my day, even though I’m a major procrastinator.”
Chavez’s drive seems to exceed that of your average ambitious student, but she also has a lot to overcome.
“As a minority it can be more difficult to prove your abilities and sometimes I feel I am compensating by doing more,” Chavez said.
Chavez, who is clearly at the top of the collegiate journalism game, wants people to know she is still learning.
“ I live by ‘fake it till you make it,’” Chavez said. “ I try to give the impression that I know what I am doing, but I promise you I don’t.”