Careers in Media (CIM) is an internship program designed to provide hands-on experience to minority high school students with an interest in the media industry. Its purpose is to:
1. Develop a talented pool of qualified minority individuals from which the local media industry may recruit.
2. Promote various careers in the media industry.
3. Provide leadership development and soft skills training to participants.
4. Give minority high school students an opportunity to learn from experienced industry professionals.
This unpaid internship begins the summer after a student’s high school junior year. Students participate for one summer, interning for 15 hours per week for a minimum of four weeks at one media site. Possible internship sites include commercial television, cable television, government access television, radio, newspaper journalism, website development, Hispanic media, public relations and graphic design.
Interns must also complete a summer project that gives them an opportunity to delve deeper into various aspects of media. Summer projects have included:
§ Writing a paper on “Stereotypes in Media” and monitoring local news stations for use of stereotypes in language and/or video.
§ Getting active in a local cause or organization and writing a letter to the editor of a local or regional newspaper. (Extra credit if the letter was published.)
§ Volunteering to write or produce a PSA for a nonprofit organization’s event or campaign.
§ Producing two-minute videos for the website entitled “How 2 Teens.”
This is the ninth program year for Careers in Media.
