While I was working on the Friday megalinks today, I happened to stumble on this press release from Ithaca College. It says the college will be sending 35 interns to work on NBC’s Olympic coverage. Most will come from the college’s School of Communications with two others spread from other schools within the institution.
Ithaca College has had a partnership with NBC to send interns to the network to work on the Olympics since the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.
According to the release, about half of the interns will head to London while the others will be based at NBC’s headquarters in New York. It’s quite the experience for the students and one that I wish I had when I was at the University of Rhode Island’s Journalism School, but that’s neither here nor there.
Here’s the Ithaca College press release.
Ithaca College Students Lend an Assist to NBC Summer Olympics Coverage
ITHACA, NY — For the fourth straight Olympics, students from Ithaca College will be serving an essential behind-the-scenes role at the world’s biggest athletic event. NBC Sports has selected 35 interns from the college to support the network’s coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics, being held in London July 27–August 12.
Ithaca is one of only a handful of colleges and universities nationwide with which NBC partners to recruit interns for its Olympics coverage. Thirty-three of the interns are from the Roy H. Park School of Communications, with one each coming from the School of Music and School of Health Sciences and Human Performance.
“Our students are consistently recognized by internship sites for their ability to immediately enter into professional environments and begin making significant contributions,” said Diane Gayeski, dean of the Park School. “The opportunity for nearly three dozen of them to intern at the Olympics this year is yet again a wonderful affirmation of our students’ level of preparation and engagement. Working side-by-side with professionals on a major international event will be the latest of many achievements that these students can add to their portfolio of experiences.”
Half of the students will be traveling to London for their intern assignments, with the rest based at NBC’s 30 Rock headquarters in New York City. Some have been assigned to specific events, including basketball, gymnastics, swimming and track and field. Others will handle tasks such as reviewing video for what’s known as the Highlights Factory, which the network developed to package and distribute coverage through multiple media platforms.
Senior journalism major Collin Schuck is slated to work at the Central Tape facility in London, where he will help producers find material they need among the hundreds of hours of videotape generated for possible broadcast. He believes his experiences both inside and outside the classroom have prepared him well for the responsibilities.
“I’ve worked with WICB, VIC Radio and ICTV for the past three years doing not only on-air work but also a lot of behind-the-scenes work, like editing audio and video,” said Schuck. “I’m sure it’s going to be a bit different from what I’ve done in terms of equipment, but the basic concepts are the same.”
Senior television-radio major David Gofman’s favorite Olympic sport is men’s volleyball — he’s on the club team at the college — and he’ll have the opportunity to see a lot of it while working the event at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre.
“I am definitely most excited about being a part of the Olympics production process as a whole,” said Gofman. “I have never been to an Olympics before, but I watch it religiously when it comes around. To be a part of an event this special is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Ithaca College students have previously interned at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy; 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China; and 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. To read more about the history of the IC-NBC Olympics partnership, visit www.ithaca.edu/olympics2010.
That’s it and I wish the best of luck to the students who will be working on the Olympics for NBC.
