Student Speak

Fall 2007

Name: Sarah Chakales
Class: Senior
Major: Broadcast journalism
Hometown: Richmond, Va.

You worked for the presidential candidate debates this summer. How did you get the opportunity? I worked at three CNN presidential candidate debates this summer, two in New Hampshire and the one in Charleston. I interned with CNN in Washington, D.C., not this past summer but the summer before. I ran into one of my contacts from Washington while I was at the Orangeburg debate and asked if CNN needed any help. We stayed in touch, and he gave me a call.

What did you do for the debates? In New Hampshire, it was a little more hands on. I was in charge of picking up the news analysts from the airport or the hotel and escorting them to the debate site for interviews and live hits. My favorite was Anderson Cooper. I picked him up at the airport and we spent a solid 25 minutes alone together in the car, during which time he imparted some very helpful career advice. I also filled in for the candidates to test audio and lighting on stage. That was a lot of fun. I did some odd jobs, too, like running things to and from the director's trailer from the set. Another runner and I escorted the candidates to their green rooms as well. It was just really fun being so close to the other professional journalists. In Charleston, I helped fill in for the candidates to test audio and lighting again. Another big task was keeping the journalists continually updated with transcripts from the debate.

How much work goes into putting on a debate? In New Hampshire, I got there on June 1 and the first debate wasn't until June 3. Then the next one was on June 5; so, I was there about a week. There's a lot of planning involved. The set and lighting crew had been setting up for a several weeks already before I got there, and site planning started months in advance.

Are you interested in politics? I love politics. Ideally, I'd like to be a political reporter. It is something that definitely interests me.

How was your intern experience at the CNN bureau in Washington? I worked for Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room. It was an incredible experience. I absolutely loved it. Some of my responsibilities included helping with pre-show research, escorting guests from the makeup room to the set, and occasionally fact checking. Sometimes, I would accompany a producer to the Capitol for stories as well. There was even one instance when I went out with a producer to get an interview, but CNN had already dispatched all of the camera crews, so it was just the two of us. He didn't know how to work the camera, but luckily it was the same kind that we use here in the journalism school. I ended up shooting the entire interview, and I got to see it air later that evening. It was a wonderful feeling.

Any plans after you graduate in December? I received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study journalism in Hong Kong for a year, which I'm very excited about. After that, I'll probably find a job reporting at a local news station and work my way up.

8/07