E.T. goes to D.C.

Also known as Erica Taylor... giving a glimpse of myself and insight on MY experience in Washington DC.

I remember reading the email months ago about the Washington Center (TWC) Internship program. It’s a program available for all students and RSU pays for the students selected for the internship. Well, I guess that's all I needed to know :-) I wanted to know what TWC program was about so I attended the meeting. After the first meeting I was really blown away on what TWC had to offer. I also was at a crossroads where I was trying to figure out if Communications was something I really wanted to do and get a career in or switch back to my original major Biology and continue from there. I thought the TWC Internship program would be a great opportunity in helping with that decision. A day after my birthday, I found out I was accepted to TWC. I was so happy, especially my mother, she was screaming though the phone! After calming down, I realized that this is something that I wanted to fully embrace and take advantage of this opportunity… And it all starts January 28th!

While in DC, I’ll be interning for Tribune Broadcasting. Tribune is America’s largest employee-owned media company, operating businesses in publishing, interactive and broadcasting. Tribune operates basically in the major cities, one of them including Houston, my hometown. Their cable channel is WGN, and they are affiliated with FOX, CW, and ABC. During my internship, I’ll be doing things like writing, editing and putting together news stories, doing interviews, and helping the reporters and producers with newsgathering and production. A lot of news will be covering the first one hundred days of President Obama and political issues which I know will be a very interesting and exciting time during my stay in DC. My interests are to get into TV broadcasting and/or news reporting. I decided to intern for Tribune because I think they will be best suited for preparing me towards my interest. Also, because I see it as a challenge for me, working with news that’s more politically related instead of news that’s more sports entertainment related. So I can’t wait to get to work!

Besides working, I’ll be taking a class called: Media, Ethics, and the Movies, which seems like a fun and interesting course but it wasn't my first choice, so I may change it when I get to DC. I’ll be doing so many other things that will keep me busy and on my toes. I’ll be attending meetings, lectures, events, activities. I’ll get into greater detail as I come across them. I’ll also will be creating a portfolio which (from what I’ve seen) will be a thick document of what I've experienced during my internship, which will be helpful for future references.

Well for the past month, I've been doing a lot of preparing for DC. Mostly, it’s been shopping and I’m loving it! I had to get a lot of business attire clothes and more warm clothes. So out with the old athletic, sporty, basketball wear and gear, and in with the new professional, business attire. I can't wait to flaunt my new look :-) I also will be getting my first MP3 player. I figure it’s finally time to get one so I won't have to worry about carrying a CD player and a pack CDs and batteries around :-)

During my application process for TWC, I received a great amount of help and encouragement. Thanks to Dr. Carolyn Taylor for having such an opportunity available for RSU students and for your help along the way. Thanks to Coach Amy Williams and Supervisor Brian Murrison for taking time to write recommendation letters for me. Thanks to my teachers Dr. Gentry, Dr. Evusa, Mr. Williams and Mr. Blakey for your help and encouragement along the way. I learned so much this past semester, which will help a great deal in DC. Thanks to Brandon Denton. As an editor, you helped my essays go from good to great and well written. Thanks to Tasha Parker for your continuous support. You were the first person I told about my acceptance. Thanks to my family for their ongoing faith, love, support and encouragement. They're proud to know that I’ll be on my way to DC, during this moment in time. Thanks to friends and others who I have not mentioned specifically that were also supportive throughout the process.

My spring in DC I know will be one of the most memorable and impacting time in my life. Most importantly, it’s about my future and moving forward in the career path that will be right for me, gaining experience and knowledge that will prepare me for life in the professional world. It’s a chance that not too many others get to experience in such a way, and I am very fortunate for this opportunity. I also look forward to doing a lot of sightseeing, touring, picture taking and just seizing the moment and enjoying myself each day while I’m in DC. This will be one spring semester I will never forget....

How's my blogging? At least, weekly I’ll be blogging about my experience in DC. I also will be blogging for TWC so check that out too. Here's the link: http://ericaspringdc.blogspot.com/ Please feel free to leave comments, suggestions, advice, feedback, etc.

Signing out,

Erica Taylor (ET)