Gabi Morando
Senior
Journalism major, Strategic Communication minor
Mansfield, Ohio

Where are you interning this summer and how did you learn about the opportunity?
I’m working at Fox 32 Chicago. I learned about the position from Butler alumnus and Fox 32 anchor Corey McPherrin. He teaches an online CCOM class that culminates with a trip to Chicago to tour his station and other Chicago-based media organizations. Though I wasn’t in the class at the time, I went on the trip as a last-minute spot opened up. I fell in love with Fox 32. It was the first time I had been in a newsroom and I just didn’t want to leave! I looked at their internship program that night, and while it was too late to apply for that summer, I applied less than a year later and here I am now.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities?
I go out into the field with a reporter or photographer almost every day. If time allows, I shoot my own standups, write the story, and edit a package together. Besides that, the assignment desk is my home base. I help sort emails and calls into a queue, which directors and producers look at to decide what stories they assign to the reporters and photographers. I also pitch my own ideas in daily meetings, and if I get the green light, try to schedule interviews for the reporters and anchors to conduct. Even though I’m not the one doing the interviews, I get excited to see something I set up end up on TV!

How does this experience relate to your major?
My experience at the station has shown me so many different aspects of journalism so far. I’ve done a lot of work in both print and broadcast through my classes at Butler and work with The Butler Collegian, but it’s exciting to be able to put what I’ve learned to use in the real world. There is always more to learn, but my classes at Butler continue to give me the building blocks to be able to adapt and contribute to the practice of journalism outside of the campus setting.

What do you like most about your position?
Fox 32 Chicago exemplifies teamwork like I’ve never seen before. It is such a welcoming environment, and I walk in every single day excited and wanting to work as hard as I can to contribute to the success of the station.

What has surprised you the most about this experience?
Chicago is a huge market for news, so it can take reporters and anchors multiple years, if not a decade, of experience to have a shot of landing in one of the news stations. With that, though, I’m amazed at how humble and welcoming everyone is. I walk in every day excited knowing that my ideas will be considered, and that I can contribute to something so much bigger than myself.

What are your career goals and how will this internship prepare you for that?
I want to be a reporter and work my way up to anchoring in Chicago—who knows, maybe at Fox 32! I’m so lucky, and so inspired, to be around people who are living my dream every day. I’m confident that the real-world experience I’m getting now and the skills I’m being taught at Butler will help me land my dream job in Chicago one day.

What advice would you give another student who may be looking for an internship?
Don’t count yourself out! I’m someone who gets easily intimidated by everyone and everything, and in turn, I think of a million reasons why I’m not as good as the next person, or why I shouldn’t get a position. But at the end of the day, companies have to hire someone, so why not you? You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, so take a risk, apply for everything, and have faith it’ll all work out.