So although this isn't my first day "on the job", this will be my first internship blog post and i think its as good a day as any to start. My husband and i learned we'd be in Las Vegas (he is stationed at Nellis AFB) just a few months before our arrival date the beginning of April. I had spent a lot of time searching out and interviewing for prospective summer internships here and was so excited to have one come through at the ABC affiliate - KTNV Channel 13 Action News. Three days after we got to town I started and already now have high expectations for an exciting summer in the news biz.
I am interning under Katie Bencze, the community affairs director here at KTNV and love her hands-on, throw-me-in-the-thick-of-it approach. She is heavily involved with the PR and community programs of KTNV and hasn't hesitated to let me be her constant and watchful shadow. Two of our main projects are the Jefferson Awards and "Las Vegas' favorite charity," Opportunity Village.
The Jefferson Awards is a program where KTNV partners with Wells Fargo to highlight and thank local people who are making an impact in their community. Winners are chosen from dozens of nominations sent to the station every month and awarded prizes and air time for their stories on the nightly news. All 12 months' winners are brought together once a year for a luncheon where a national winner is announced who will travel to Washington D.C. to represent the Jefferson Award winner for Southern Nevada. That annual luncheon, held in the Palm Restaurant of Caesar's Palace (on the strip) was my first day on the job. Nothing like starting strong!
Opportunity Village is an exciting project to be working on as well. OV was started in 1954 and today is Nevada's largest private not-for-profit community rehabilitation organization for intellectually and physically disabled persons. Offering vocational assessment and training, employment, therapeutic respite, advocacy, art enrichment and social programs and services, Opportunity Village provides people with disabilities the opportunity to live, work and play in the community. It serves over 3000 individuals and has a waiting list so large, a third campus is now under construction. KTNV is hosting a telethon in June which will help to raise the much needed funds for this project.
The station is in a brand new building and only the second one in the city to have switched to HD. The people here are awesome and its an exciting place to see what i've studied come to life.
