August 27, 2026
Several College of Media students, including a recent graduate, expanded their skills, learned more about the industries, and gained valuable professional experience through various internship opportunities this summer. Read about a few of our students’ experiences below in these Q&As.
Felicity Abbot, senior in journalism
CBS Chicago | News Intern | Chicago, Illinois
“I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many Illinois alumni working at CBS Chicago and they have welcomed me with open arms. This experience was a great demonstration of how strong the Illini family is and reinforced my decision to study at the University of Illinois.”
What she did: As the newsroom intern, I spent 10 weeks rotating through a variety of positions and roles, expanding a plethora of my journalistic skills. I served as a field producer several times, including for CBS Chicago’s annual “Party at the Pier,” where I coordinated live talent, interviews, a camera crew, and transportation. I also had the opportunity to help with social media coverage of the Obama Presidential Center. I spent several weeks working alongside the CBS Chicago Investigative team, completing research, tagging along on interviews, and practicing script writing. With the producers, I wrote copy for the daily newscasts, sourced VO (voice-over) stories, edited videos, and created graphics. Alongside the digital team, I worked to clip stories, publish them to the CBS Chicago website and wrote digital stories to accompany clips. With reporters, I attended press conferences with city and state officials, practiced standups, and learned how to be efficient with quick deadlines.
What she enjoyed: I really enjoyed the flexibility I was given to move through the different roles in a newsroom. I developed many skills I wouldn’t have if I had only stuck with what I knew. Plus, this allowed me to meet and get to know lots of people, both inside and outside of the newsroom.
What she learned: I learned about how many roles there are in a newsroom of this size and how to effectively communicate between them all. Additionally, I got a lot of good insight into the type of role I can see myself going into post-grad.
What helped her prepare: My extracurricular activities like UI7 Newsroom really helped prepare me for this internship. I had a lot of experience I was able to reference during my interview and had a really solid understanding of TV news right off the bat, which gave me a lot of confidence as I started.
Said Bravo, (BS ’26, journalism)
The Commercial Appeal | Sports Intern | Memphis, Tennessee
What he did: I interned at The Commercial Appeal, a legacy newspaper in Memphis. I was the sports intern through the Sports Journalism Institute.
What he enjoyed: I enjoyed the little moments in between assignments where I got to hang out with the sports staff and pick their brains. The best part about it was doing original reporting and working on enterprise stories. Over the summer, I had over 50 bylines and some vertical videos.
What he learned: I learned you must take initiative to succeed in print. You must seek out stories; oftentimes the best stories won’t fall on your lap. I also learned details matter a lot. The more granular you can go with a story, the better.
What helped him prepare: The Sports Journalism Institute prepared my cohort and me with a five-day sports journalism bootcamp at Arizona State University. They put me in a unique position to succeed in starting my career. I have been hired as a full-time sports reporter at Shaw Local in Kankakee, Illinois, where I will be covering high school sports.
Ruiyao Chao, graduate student in advertising
TikTok | Talent Acquisition Partner | San Jose, California
“Overall, this internship was a great learning experience. It helped me connect what I learned in class with real work. I also learned more about the career path I want to pursue. I am very grateful to my mentors and teammates for their support.”
What she did: We supported several technical teams, including AI Research, Search & Recommendation, E-commerce Algorithm, and Intelligent Creation. My work included sourcing candidates, talent mapping, conference recruiting, and supporting hiring managers.
What she enjoyed: I really enjoyed talking with candidates and talent mapping, which helped me understand how different companies and teams are structured. I also learned what skills companies are looking for.
What she learned: I learned that recruiting is not just about filling open roles. Recruiters also need to understand the business and the talent market. They need to know what the team needs and where to find the right people. Building strong relationships with candidates is also very important.
What helped her prepare: My classes at the University of Illinois helped me improve my communication and research skills, understand workplace communication, teamwork, and how technology affects the way people work. These skills were useful when I worked with recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates.
Nathan Gonzalez, senior in journalism
NBC News | Intern at Justice and National Security Unit | Washington, D.C.
I’m eternally grateful for the lecturers, professors, and staff at the College of Media. Because of them, I’ve landed an internship every summer, two of them in Washington, D.C., and been accepted into some of the most prestigious programs in political journalism. Thanks to the College of Media, I’m a multiskilled journalist who’s prepared for graduation and ready to start my professional career.
What he did: During my internship, I focused on national security reporting, learning how to navigate procedures, understand documents, conduct research, and investigate the operations of the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, CIA, FBI, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection. I also learned how to properly report on U.S. federal courts. I was frequently sent to cover rulings and hearings at the U.S. District Courts in Alexandria, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., as well as a week of Supreme Court opinions, where I sat in the courtroom and reported quotes from the justices back to the bureau. I booked and conducted interviews with immigration advocates and legal counsel on deportation cases. I was published multiple times as a reporter and researcher on the NBC News website and have my own author page. I learned how to conduct background checks, geographic tracking, and conflict-of-interest research using open-source intelligence.
I also led data processing and analysis for the unit on defense contracts, ICE deportation statistics, and FEC filings. I also led national security research for the July 4th celebrations in Washington, where I broke the news of an evacuation order to the bureau which ended up airing on our network.
What he enjoyed: I enjoyed being back in Washington, learning more about political reporting, and getting to work at my dream network, NBC News.
What helped him prepare: JOUR 400: Newsroom Experience and my work at UI7 Newsroom in general prepared me a great deal, helping me build my politics show Illinois in Session.
Zijie Wang, senior in media and cinema studies
OpenQQuantify | Media Intern | Remote Work Opportunity
“This internship made me sure of my interest in media production, documentary development, and research-based content creation. It not only helped me accumulate portfolio-building and professional development experience but also made me more aware that I want to continue to explore technology storytelling and educational media direction in the future.”
What he did: As part of OpenQQuantify’s technology documentary initiative, which focused on areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, cybersecurity, fintech, and other emerging technologies, I assisted in documentary research, organizing and editing digital media assets, content publishing, and social media outreach. I also helped with interviews, media coordination, creative brainstorming, and online community engagement. My goal was to transform technical information into content that is clearer and more suitable for public understanding.
What he enjoyed: My favorite thing is that this internship combined research and creative media production. This internship made me see that a professional documentary project requires a lot of preliminary research and fact-checking. I especially liked the process of documentary theme research and content conception, because I was able to help the audience understand complex scientific and technological topics.
What he learned: Through this experience, I learned that media production is not just about shooting, editing, or publishing content. A good media project requires accurate information, clear narrative structure, and cooperation between teams; especially technology-focused media production, which requires both creative and analytical skills. Through the internship, I also learned a lot about documentary research, digital storytelling, social media communication, video editing, technology journalism, and innovation reporting.
What helped him prepare: My courses related to digital media, content creation, and media writing helped me prepare for this internship. These courses taught me how to organize information, analyze the audience, tell a good story, and express the content clearly.