Internships

When Gabrielle Robergeau entered Stony Brook’s School of Journalism in September 2006, she had already published two issues of The Pearl, a glossy magazine aimed at college students, on her own. Robergeau hoped The Pearl would help her learn about the magazine industry, in which she hopes to work after she graduates.

Associate Dean Marcy McGinnis learned of Robergeau’s achievement and, impressed with her ambition, offered to introduce her to editors at the New York City headquarters of Glamour magazine. Robergeau followed up and landed an internship at Glamour, with McGinnis as her faculty mentor.

“I did a little bit of everything,” Robergeau said. “I was able to see how many people and how much work it actually takes to put together a magazine.”

Matt Weinberger, a senior with a keen interest in technology, got a tip from one of his professors that the business editor of the New York Daily News had a slot for a summer intern. He jumped on the opportunity and landed on his feet, with a summerlong series of bylines about everything from the iPhone to burglar alarms. He left with the promise of freelance work through the fall and winter.

Lauren Sarakos, an English major and journalism minor, said the balance tipped away from teaching in favor of making journalism her career after she interned at News12 Interactive last summer.

Katie Serignese is interning at Newsday this fall, getting her byline in one of the nation’s largest newspapers every week.

At first, Serignese said, “it was kind of hard” to find her way around the newsroom and get the help she needed from editors and other reporters. “But you learn who to go to pretty quickly,” she added. “More or less, they become like a mentor. They’re there to guide me.”

Internships have become a key part of education, particularly in journalism. Newsroom managers look for internship experience when they’re hiring young journalism graduates. In fact, some managers say, a newly graduated job-seeker had better have a pretty good explanation if he or she hasn’t had at least one internship.

The journalism school’s internship program begins with an internship at a campus news outlet. Students are urged to join one of the campus news organizations the minute they set foot in a journalism class, but they get academic credit for their involvement only after they have completed 12 credits in the program. A one-semester on-campus internship is required for journalism majors. This semester, students are interning at the Stony Brook Statesman newspaper, www.sbindependent.org and SBU-TV.

Each campus intern is assigned a faculty mentor, with whom the intern corresponds weekly. At least once a month, the intern and mentor meet to take a close look at the work the student is producing and to talk about what the student is learning. At the end of the term, they work together on a resume, clip portfolio or reel that the student can use to apply for a future internship or job.

After completing the one-credit campus internship, students are eligible for a fall, spring or summer internship at an off-campus publication, website or radio or television station, usually on Long Island or in New York City. Students usually receive three credits, the equivalent of a semester-long course, for an off-campus internship.

Off-campus internships are a major commitment. Students are usually required to spend two full days a week at the workplace, which means scheduling all their classes for three days and organizing themselves to get their schoolwork done on time. Again, faculty members act as mentors, giving the students a sounding board as they experience the world of professional journalism firsthand.

A sampling of news organizations where Stony Brook student journalists have interned in recent years includes Newsday, The Village Voice, the New York Daily News, Southampton Press, News12, WABC-TV, ABC News, Glamour and Modern Bride. As Stony Brook’s journalism program grows, other newsroom managers have begun calling the school’s internship coordinator, seeking the university’s best and brightest for training as the next generation of journalists.