Today@山姆文章
Bearkat实习:Sophia Cruz
8月. 10, 2023
SHSU媒体联系人: Mikah博伊德
Bearkat实习是一个 Today@山姆 series that features select SHSU students who participated in recent internships. If you (or a Bearkat you know) would like their internship considered, fill out 这种形式.
Some students enter college with the intent to pursue one subject until the bitter end and make a career out of it, others acknowledge that while having it all figured out is good, it is okay to change your mind along the way. Sophia Cruz entered 山姆 Houston State University as a business student looking to find her true calling as she studied.
Inspiration struck Cruz in a weather and climate class led by Ava Fujimoto-Strait, professor and renowned researcher of all things geography. To the then-freshman Cruz, Fujimoto-Strait’s instruction actually stuck with her and made sense.
“Weather is something you see every single day,克鲁兹说. “Something she said that really stuck out to me as a freshman was high pressure days are good hair days, and that was something I could get behind.”
With that simple remark, studying weather and relaying it to the masses became Cruz’s mission. She later changed her major to geography and dove into her studies, learning about all facets of the discipline, 从气候学到文化. 她知道的越多, the more she leaned toward making a career out of geography, 最终选定气象学.
“I started thinking about my interests and someone once told me that if you find something you love and you can make it a career, it will never feel like you’re working and those words really stuck with me,克鲁兹说.
As her final semester approached, Cruz knew that she needed to get experience. She sent out applications to news stations around her hometown of Austin and Houston, just an hour’s drive from her new home in Huntsville. 在很多期待之后, she was offered the opportunity to work at KPRC 2 as the station’s only weather intern.
“I was kind of nervous and thinking I’ve never done this, I don’t know what to expect. I was thinking it was going to be like TMZ and the newsroom is going to be so crazy all the time,克鲁兹说 “It did not turn out like that at all, 那里的每个人都像一个大家庭.”
Cruz entered the newsroom equipped with her knowledge of geography, 但没有媒体经验, leading to her being intimidated at the prospect of working on-air. Her fears were quickly alleviated by the KPRC 2 weather team, who she says took her under their wings and supported her every step of the way.
她在车站工作期间, 克鲁兹学到了很多新技能, including graphic creation for forecasts, 为天气更新撰写文案, working with a weather team and even presenting her own forecast live on air. She credits the weather team’s support, guidance and care for her success in the internship.
“你可以告诉那里所有的锚, 包括我的导师卡洛琳·布朗, 安东尼Yanez, 贾斯汀Stapleton, Frank Billingsley and Khambrel Marshall, 只是喜欢他们所做的, are willing to share their knowledge with me and what they’ve learned from the industry,克鲁兹说. “I think that’s the best part of working for KPRC 2, they’re just great people.”
While Cruz expressed great admiration for all her mentors, she explained that she was particularly inspired by Brown, who serves as the station’s only female meteorologist. Cruz said she was repeatedly impressed by Brown’s knowledge and skill and felt that she could be successful as a woman in the industry just as Brown is.
As she looks forward to her last semester at SHSU and her future career goals, Cruz is aiming to continue her education at Mississippi State University, where she will pursue a master’s in geosciences. Thanks to the university’s online program, Cruz hopes to also work as a meteorologist while studying. Because of the impact the KPRC 2 team made on her this summer, Cruz hopes that she can return to work for the Houston station after completing her master’s degree.
“My mentors have been the biggest inspiration for me to continue in this career and encourage me every single day, which is what really makes me feel special to them because they have interns every year,克鲁兹说. “I just want to thank the whole team at KPRC 2 for showing me kindness from the heart and for teaching me so many valuable lessons in the station and about life in general.”
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