Name: Christa Balingit
Grad Year: Spring 2015
Major: International Business
I’ve loved writing since I was a little girl. I grew up wanting to be a news anchor. I would watch the reporters and practice in front of the mirror using my brush as a microphone. It’s always been a dream career of mine. I didn’t decide to pursue it until I reached college though. During my first semester in college my Professor assigned us a book called “Stories that Changed America” by Carl Jensen. It was full of stories about investigative journalists. I credit this book with inspiring me to become a journalist.
The experience has been unreal. I’ve learned so much in a small amount of time. It definitely isn’t a “coffee run” type of internship. I work with reporters, writers, producers, editors and production assistants. I’ll spend one day prepping upcoming shows with the production assistant. I’ll pull videos for producers and run scripts to the anchors.
When I’m not helping with production, I work closely with the editors at the news assignment desk. I’ll check up on stories, interview sources and help research current stories. I’ve also been given the opportunity to shadow reporters as well as shadow producers during newscasts.
I’ll be honest, nothing beats this! However, I’ve worked as the Arts and Features editor for the Diablo Valley College newspaper. During those nine months I really began to understand what journalism entails. I wrote, edited, designed pages and managed my section. During my second semester I was lucky enough to win fourth place for page design and fourth place for a profile piece from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.
This is when my love for journalism grew and when I realized this was the industry I wanted to be apart of.
Be open to learning anything and everything. It’s a really easy way to earn respect from others. Don’t get discouraged or overwhelmed if it doesn’t happen for you right away. Also..get to know your professors! They have worked in the field and are great resources for possible internship opportunities.
-What are your plans for the future? Do you have any new projects on the horizon?
I applied for the study abroad program in Paris so I’m waiting to hear back from them. It would only be a semester but when I come back I would like to apply for another internship with ABC7 in the public affairs department. I want to stay with the company but make my way down to Southern California. Eventually I would like to become a producer and work my way to an executive producer.