(Editor's Note: This is the sixth in a series of stories about College of Communications students completing summer internships.)
About halfway through a summer internship she described as “exactly what I’d hoped for,” one Penn State senior knows what she must continue to do until classes begin for the fall semester in late August.
She also knows what she has to do as she builds her career in television news.
It all boils down to hard work.
That lesson was instilled in Taylor Bisacky by her parents (Jodi Press and David Bisacky), and the internships she has completed as a student in the College of Communications have made the effectiveness of that approach all the more clear.
“You have to have a go-getter attitude,” Bisacky said of her summer internship with WRC-TV (Channel 4) in Washington, D.C. She said the NBC affiliate in the nation’s capitol has provided ample opportunity for her to grow and hone her skills.
“Everything here is hands-on. I’ve been given the opportunity to work with reporters every day and everyone in the building is open to helping,” Bisacky said. “At the same time, while they have a general outline and are supportive, it’s up to you to make it happen.”
Bisacky has been making it happen throughout the summer -- and long before she started the internship as part of the Penn State Washington Program.
She grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and got involved and learned about video editing software while in high school. She also learned radio skills as part of a program with Philadelphia powerhouse KWY Newsradio (1060 AM) while in high school.
Once she arrived at Penn State, Bisacky piled up academic credits on the way to completing double majors in journalism and marketing while getting active in co-curricular activities such as PSN-TV and, this past year, 46 LIVE, the student-driven webcast of the Penn State Dance Marathon. Last summer, she completed an internship at WPVI-TV (Channel 6) in Philadelphia.
This past spring, Bisacky completed the 400-level communications class at Penn State that produces “Centre County Report (CCR),” a weekly TV newscast.
“The internship supervisors were really impressed Penn State had a program like that,” Bisacky said. “Having done that helped me be able to contribute right away.”
Along with shadowing reporters on assignment, getting to craft her own scripts and recording her own segments (these do not air on TV but do provide fodder for Bisacky’s personal highlight reel), Bisacky has already written a story that was published on NBC-4’s website.
In addition to the internship, she’s completing two online courses this semester. In the fall, she plans to return to “CCR” as executive producer. And, she plans to complete 18 more credits in the fall semester.
“It’s easy for people to say ‘no’ to you in this field. It’s much harder to keep going,” Bisacky said.
She’s simply been going and going and going.