Cassandra was a second-year undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences and was undecided but interested in Philosophy and Media Studies when she completed her internship.

Why did you choose the Wallerstein Scholars Program?

I really wanted to learn about audio in a different format. I did a brief sound engineering internship at WTJU Radio, and it opened my eyes to how sound works and how I could make audio sound better. When I saw the Cooper Center’s need for a podcast and video intern, I was excited to explore a field I was curious about and could grow in. 

What projects did you work on as a Wallerstein Scholar?

My first couple of podcasts were learning projects, but a big one was my narration for an interview Charles Hartgrove had with the founders of the AAACC. I turned the hour-long interview into a 30-minute podcast and inserted my own stories into an important discussion on racism and cultural preservation. I’ve also helped revamp the Center for Survey Research’s social media and created some media for the Sorensen Institute’s Facebook page. Right now, I’m working on a project with another podcast intern (Esther) which covers topics about restoring felons’ voting rights. We hope to release it in March!

What was your favorite part of the internship?

My favorite part of this internship was when my supervisor Claire and I did a consulting call with the Director of the Center for Survey Research. We were trying to help them with promotional ideas for their new Facebook page. This was my first time consulting, so the week before the call, I did a bunch of research on social media strategies and ways to engage followers. Then I remembered something I used to do in high school – creating infographics! They could be a great way to present data found by the Center with colorful pictures and gifs. Even though I was an intern, the Director was very receptive to my ideas and decided to work with some of them! Overall, I enjoyed working with one of my first professional clients, and I’m excited to experiment more with social media.

What did you learn as a result of this internship?

Thanks to this internship, I’ve become much more familiar with audio editing. Now I can recognize when a clip is distorted or where I need to equalize the audio, and my editing is getting much more precise. I feel like I’ve combined this experience with what I learned from my sound engineering internship. In just a few years, I’ve gone from editing small film projects to creating larger podcasts with a statewide reach, and I’m really proud that I’ve made that kind of impact. On a smaller level, I also learned how to use Photoshop, which I didn’t think I could have done a year ago. The Cooper Center gave me access to the Adobe products that I needed to learn those skills, and I’m very grateful for that.

Would you recommend the Wallerstein Scholars Program to future students?

My supervisor Claire always tells me to take advantage of every opportunity, and I’m so glad that I did that with this internship. It’s been a good balance between being creative with my own podcasts, working with a team, and learning how to create media for other people. You also learn important skills like how to interact with professional clients, whether you’re interviewing guests or consulting with a department. The Cooper Center’s internship has been a gateway into the world of podcasting, and I would definitely recommend it for students interested in media.