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Brittany Alston |
Increasingly, college
students are using internships as a way to supplement their classroom
education and gain valuable hands-on experience. Monmouth College
communication and theatre arts majors Brittany Alston and Kate
Drost are two prime examples.
Alston was off-campus during the fall semester as she participated in
the Associated Colleges of the Midwest’s Chicago Arts Program. Although
the program, which required her to create a new piece of art every week,
was the main reason she was in the city, Alston enjoyed a wide range of
experiences, including an internship with the Fox Chicago television
station.
On Mondays, Alston and her fellow art students gathered to talk about
each other’s works. “Tuesday and Wednesdays,” she explained, “are
internship days, Thurdays we play (she visited Lincoln Park Zoo and saw
the Improv Olympics) and Fridays are core course days where we learn
about the city of Chicago and deal with topics like racism and
gentrification.”
She said her internship experience has been a positive one.
“I knew that I had to get an internship for this semester in Chicago,
and I’ve always had an interest in the media,” explained Alston, who
lives just outside the city in Bolingbrook. “I looked online and just
applied for the networks that I enjoyed watching when I’m at home. Fox
Chicago contacted me and asked me to come in for an interview, and I got
it!”
Alston arrived at her job by 5 a.m. to answer calls to the news desk.
“People call in to complain about the on-air talent or give story ideas
or breaking news,” she said. “I also transfer calls from reporters out
on the scene to their writers and I enter press releases into the future
stories system.”
Occasionally, Alston attended morning meetings with all the producers
and reporters, where that day’s news coverage was planned.
“On very special days, I get to go on the scene with a reporter,” she
said. “The most exciting experience so far was when I was covering
Oktoberfest with David Viggiano, the entertainment reporter, and he
asked if I would like to come along on an interview with Kat Dennings
and Michael Cera from (the recent movie) ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite
Playlist.’ I’m a huge Michael Cera fan, so it was such a treat!”
Although the internship went well, Alston admitted to a nervous
beginning.
“My first day on the job, I was terrified,” she said. “They kind of just
expected us to jump in and start answering phones and what not, and I
was so scared. But now, I answer the phones like I’ve been doing it for
years.”
While she’s used to that routine, it’s taken her a little longer to get
over the celebrities that she regularly sees.
“Every Tuesday, they have one of the Chicago Bears on the show, and they
walk past the assignment desk where I work,” she said. “I’m a bit
star-struck!”
The sophomore art major said she’s not certain if broadcast journalism
is in her long-term future, explaining, “I think that I still have some
other avenues of interest that I want to explore before I settle down.”
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Kate Drost |
Not so for Drost, whose internship experiences tie right into her career
goals.
“I want to do theater for the rest of my life,” she said, while sitting
on the stage before practicing her part as Jenny in the Crimson Masque
production of “The Shape of Things.”
Drost’s internship came this summer at Monmouth’s Buchanan Center for
the Arts, as a creative drama teacher.
“It was fantastic!” said Drost, who credited theatre professor Janeve
West with helping her change her major from English education to
theatre. “I’ve never had so much fun. I’d worked in traditional
classroom settings before, but this was so different. We’d play improv
games, and the students were just so much smarter than you think they
are. There’s nothing as fulfilling as making kids learn while they’re
having fun. If they can live it, they can understand it. I could really
see working in drama education as a possible career.”
The internship also included working on the technical crew for the
Prairie Players’ production of “Dust and Dreams” at Galesburg’s Orpheum
Theatre.
“I did set construction, lighting, running and maintaining microphones
and then running body microphones during the run of the show,” she
explained. “It’s the experience I was looking for. To be good at
anything, you have to learn how to do the other side of it.”
In Drost’s case, the “real world” experience has led to “real world”
employment.
“As a result of the internship, I’ve worked at princess pageants in the
surrounding area, and I’m running follow spot for the Orpheum’s Red
Carpet Series,” said Drost, a junior from Naperville.
Her internship was consistent with how she treats her time on campus.
“The more involved I am, the happier I am,” she said. “I try to involve
myself with every aspect of theater. I’ve done costumes and make-ups and
lights. I can’t not be in a show.”
Even for the times when there’s a direct conflict, such as not being
able to have a role in a production of “Lysistrata” because of “The
Shape of Things,” Drost finds a way to help.
“I’m was the propmistress for ‘Lysistrata,’ and I ran a board, too,” she
said.
Besides preparing for her future with the internship, Drost also takes
her elective courses into account.
“I’m taking a business class, because it will be a big help if I ever do
something like opening a non-for-profit children’s theater in Chicago,”
she said. “That’s why I love Monmouth and its liberal arts education so
much.”
Two interesting internships helped a pair of MC students get to the next
place they want to be in their lives. The lessons they’ve learned and
the people they’ve met are opening doors to the next parts of their
journeys.
