Grady InternViews: Jack Casey

This is part of a series where we ask Grady College students to describe their summer internship experience.

Briefly describe your internship and responsibilities.

I’m doing an internship through Grady with the Oglethorpe Echo. It’s a newspaper that covers all of Oglethorpe County, a county east of Athens. I’m a visual journalist, so I take photos and videos to go alongside stories, that are both printed in the paper and put on our website.

How will this role guide your future career path?

Somewhere in my career, I really just want to be able to document life around me and create stories from that. With the Echo and the small town stories you find in Oglethorpe County, this internship is perfect for that.

How have the classes you’ve taken at Grady prepared you for this internship?

Even though I am majoring in Entertainment and Media Studies, the sports media program really has prepared me best for this internship. The classes I’ve taken through it so far have taught me skills including how to communicate with sources, how to work with fast-paced deadlines, and then a little bit of camera work here and there. I feel like those classes I’ve taken so far through the sports media certificate have really prepared me the best.

How has this role helped you discover what you are passionate about?

I’ve known for a while – if not forever – that visual journalism and visual media have been my passion. This internship has allowed me to really take that passion of the real world and run with it. The Echo isn’t a newspaper where you’re learning as things go – it’s the real deal. You’re making a paper weekly and uploading articles to the website. As a digital journalist, that’s just music to my ears. I get to see photos and videos that I produce in real works, and it really pays off.

What advice would you give to students who are looking to pursue similar opportunities? 

My advice would be to take advantage of whatever opportunities come your way. Apply to things, talk to people and get experience. You’ll find that wherever you end up, you’ll get experience that is maybe a little outside of your comfort zone or something that you didn’t initially sign up to do while you were there – which is a good thing. I’m a visual journalist for the Echo, but I’ve already written an article. It’s that kind of experience – that isn’t what you’re necessarily there to do – that’s actually a good thing, and you’ll benefit from it.