Ellen Dodor's Final Goodbye

I can’t believe my blogging days are slowly coming to an end. My career at the radio station is as well, and I have to say it’s been a great experience being able to reflect on everything I’ve learned in the past year and a half. I still remember my first say at the station pulling in at 5:15am and being so nervous my palms were sweating and I was abnormally shy. For the next few months I was made fun of and it took me a while to come out of my shell. I started to come out of my shell when summer came and that’s when everything started to feel natural. Everything from running the board, to designing, and speaking on air became natural and that’s why I believe I’ve had the opportunity to work there for as long as I have.

I’ve become friends with the people I work with and they have also become my mentors. They are genuine, creative, honest, and overall great people to have in your life.  The skills I’ve learned from my internship expand beyond the technical. The right internship can help you to grow professionally and personally. What I’ve learned through my internship is that I love being on air, but I like doing social media and design work more. It doesn’t mean that I would never work in radio again; I just have found my niche and a central focus which will help me when applying for jobs after graduation.

For future radio intern my advice for you is to be fearless. It’s ok to make mistakes but you’ll be making a bigger mistake if you don’t ask questions. Put yourself out there at your internship and ask as many questions as you can. There is no penalty for being curious. School won’t teach you everything and in a field that’s evolving everyday it’s important to be thinking on your feet and to be asking questions. You won’t learn anything if you don’t push your limits. I pushed my limits just by applying for this internship!

In a couple of weeks I will be leaving this internship and starting a new one. I will always be thinking of the time I spent on air as “Intern Ellen” but I do think I’ve learned everything I can and now I can put those skills to use in my new job. This station will always be special to me and I hope for future interns that work there that they embrace it as much as I did.