Showcasing Different Faces of America: New York City Internship
(Photo provided by Shuya Zheng)
After I made my decision to intern in a major city, I applied to both the DC and New York programs at the same time and I tried hard to find an internship in one of those cities. Since the internship I found in New York attracted me a lot, I accepted the offer and finally went to New York.
I could not find an internship until the middle of May. I was so worried about getting a job because I really needed to do an internship. When I was applying for both of the internship programs, staff members of Global Programs office helped me a lot by answering my questions via emails. I also took a lot of time polishing my resume and asked the Student Success Center for some help. I went to the Center several times to get help revising my resume. After looking at lots of internship and job websites, fortunately I got a job from one of those websites and at the end of May I went to New York.
Before going there, I was told that New York is very big and lots of fun, so I hoped I would be able to get to know more people and do some tourism in New York. I did not actually have time to be worried or excited about my journey to New York because I was in a hurry. The most important part of the application, therefore, is the timing. You also need to apply for as many positions as you can when you start to find an internship because you don’t know which position will accept you at the end. In addition, you should be very positive during the interview for your internship. So don’t forget to smile!
I think the life in Columbia is very regular - you almost do the same work every day. In New York, however, there are diverse things that capture your attention and you can learn a lot from different people. Plus, if you’re thinking of having your internship in a big city like New York, I would say you should keep your eye on the news, especially the local news when you’re in New York so that you can know what is happening in your neighborhood and be safe.
(Photo provided by Shuya Zheng)
I did my internship at a documentary agency, Cinqua, in Brooklyn, New York. The company does a lot of work in promotion for a small business and sports. My daily schedule would be editing and shooting stuff for the company. Since it is a very small company, I learned a lot from the boss in person.
Whenever I felt anxious about not getting a lot of work to do, I would ask my supervisor if I could have more work so I don’t waste my time during the internship. Furthermore, I would stay late at work at the end of each week and ask my supervisor if there was anything I can improve my work. The director of the New York Program, Reuben Stern, also asked us to do the weekly updates of our internship every week, which helped us a lot to see the progress we made and difficulties we faced during our internship so that we can improve ourselves later on.
My major here in at the Mizzou J-School is Convergence Journalism. I learned more skills for journalism such as photography and videography and got more proficiency in dealing with softwares I need like Premier Pro after doing my internship. At Mizzou I do a lot of work of typical journalism shooting stuff, while there in New York I was doing more creative shooting, which taught me other skill sets for shooting. Thanks to my internship in New York, now I know how the real journalism world works.
I highly recommend every student to go to the New York Program, especially because the curriculum of the program is very good. We had a seminar class every Tuesday and in each class our director introduced one or two students from Mizzou alumni to the class. They would guide us to know how the professional journalism looks like in New York.
I think as an international student, we want to know different faces of America. In Columbia I have gotten the chance to know how the countryside in America looks, and what life in a small city is like, but in New York City I could see how big it is and how the modern city life looks in America, which has helped me to learn more about this country.
Deadline for NYC Internship Program for this coming spring has been extended to October 17th! Apply today for this great opportunity in New York City!
Watch Shuya’s NYC story on our YouTube channel: