With TDE, I worked on several different projects within the organization. Most of my work revolved around making content for their social media, but I also practiced my TV news reporting by creating two packages from pre-recorded materials. Another major responsibility I had was creating deliverables for TDE clients, such as a package for Men2Be and press releases for two other clients.

• Created two TV news packages from pre-recorded materials

• Edited Mental Health Mondays, Trailblazer Tuesdays, and Extended Conversations videos for TDE social media

• Shot 4 Mental Health Mondays videos to show the perspective of students and faculty members on campus

• Spliced together a reel about TDE's media training session with Boosted Diplomas

• Curated a package for Men2Be to inform the public about their fundraising goal

• Crafted a press release for Boosted Diplomas and Revive Counseling & Wellness, two local businesses looking for media attention

• Assembled a media kit for Revive Counseling & Wellness

This internship helped me grow as a professional by introducing me to both traditional journalism methods and modern media expectations. My first project was to practice making news packages and watch the news to get a sense of what a news program looks like. Tabnie showed me multiple methods to improve my packages, from adding motion to photos to filling in the blank space behind vertical content used in a horizontal format. Other projects involved me editing videos for social media. I learned how to add captions, edit them, and set them up properly for different platforms. 

Going into this internship, I didn't even know what a VOSOT (voiceover sound on tape) was, which is an important part of television news. My biggest takeaway was finding out that a VOSOT is basically a shortened package read aloud by the anchor instead of the reporter. This is a bite of knowledge that I'm 100% going to need as my career in broadcast news develops. 

The most impactful experience was definitely shooting videos for TDE’s Mental Health Mondays series. While the other editing projects helped me with the production side of things, going out into the world and interviewing random people helped me develop my interview skills. Doing interviews has always been a point of improvement for me, especially for interviews not scheduled beforehand. By giving me the opportunity to practice on-the-spot interviews with strangers, TDE has helped me be a better journalist than I was entering this internship.