Bellisario College student brings passion for journalism to D.C. internship

Editor’s Note: This is the tenth in a series of articles about students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications completing summer internships.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.— The earliest major news event Caroline Quick can remember is the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was only 5 years old, but she remembers watching every night and seeing the recaps on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. The daily coverage of global pageantry may have set the foundation for what is becoming a career in journalism with an international flare.

This summer, the Penn State student is interning with FOX 5 DC, the FOX news station for Washington, D.C., and the surrounding metropolitan area. She has been a news junkie – especially international politics – for a long time, she said. However, a career in journalism is a relatively recent development, which was solidified last summer as an intern for the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London.

Even though the senior from Tewksbury, New Jersey grew up watching and scrolling through the news every day, she started at Penn State as a marketing major. She signed up for classes with the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications as part of a journalism minor, and those classes sealed the deal. Last year, she upgraded the journalism minor to a major and will be double majoring for the rest of her Penn State career.

“I am interested in the things that are happening in the world and how they are affecting people,” she said. “I want to tell those stories.”

Quick’s journey to Penn State was a story in itself. As she was graduating high school, she was set on attending the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, but when COVID-19 shut everything down, that option disappeared. She decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and attend Penn State. With all classes virtual her first year, Quick wouldn’t take her first steps on the University Park campus until she was a sophomore.

Now a full-time journalism student, she says the Bellisario College has been a welcoming place, and she has been taking advantage of the educational and professional opportunities available.

“I was worried that I would feel behind or left out because I was coming in so late and had a second major,” she said. “That definitely wasn’t the case. The professors have been super helpful, and it has all turned out well.”

In January, she joined the Daily Collegian, the on-campus student newspaper, as a lifestyle reporter. She is also an interview anchor with PSN News, a student-run weekly TV broadcast.

Highlights from the classroom this past year have been learning about audio recording, writing feature articles and going out into the community to find stories. One assignment, a final class project, brought Quick to WC Clarke's The Cheese Shoppe, a local coffee shop in downtown State College. She didn’t have a scheduled interview. She just walked in and introduced herself.

“I spent the whole day talking to the owner,” she said.  “It wasn't even a published story or anything, but I left feeling so fulfilled. I felt like I created such a beautiful body of work. It was a wonderful experience.”

Ms. Quick goes to Washington

At JobExpo.Comm, the Bellisario College’s on-campus internship fair in February, Quick’s journalistic momentum sped up. She had a great discussion with the human resources rep at the FOX 5 DC booth, she said. Quick applied, and a short time later was offered an interview followed by a job offer. The opportunity to work with journalists in the field fascinated her.

“Working with reporters and producers in such a large market is a really exciting internship experience,” she said. “It’s a top 10 market, and to see all the traffic and movement that comes in…and the responsibilities that go with it was very appealing.”

Quick works three days a week as a news intern. Each day starts with a pitch meeting with the entire news team. After that, who knows? Some days she's in the field shadowing a reporter, on others she's staying in-studio helping with scripts and digital articles.

“Caroline shines as an intern with her good instincts and good questions,” said Alena Oakes, senior planning editor for FOX 5 DC. “She brings a good work ethic and positive attitude to every experience and task she faces. Her competence at the tasks assigned and her drive helps Caroline stand out.”

On the scene

In just a couple of months, Quick has seen a lot of news — from mayoral press conferences to breaking news. She often shadows reporter Stephanie Ramirez and one night the breaking news was a shooting. The team dropped the story they were working on and drove 30 minutes away to the scene. The police were already there. Press could cross some of the marked-off areas.

“We got footage. We talked to people who were potential witnesses. We spoke to a local business owner who was very upset about the crime,” Quick said. “It was grisly, but also very interesting to watch a professional cover the story, write the script. [Stephanie] wrote it in the car working with the photographer who was editing it all together.”

She added, “And then each hour she’d go live on TV … four, then five, then six … every hour like clockwork. It was amazing.”

About one day a week, Quick stays in the studio. She helps write scripts and digital articles all while soaking in the day-to-day tasks of a major newsroom. Oakes said Quick has been an important piece in covering the D.C. news cycle this summer.

“Caroline is integral in our live five-hour shows on the road where she assists in field producing,” she said. “These shows are big productions and she’s a valued asset at them.”

While graduate school is a possibility, Quick’s “ultimate career dream” is working as a foreign correspondent for a major news network. No matter what her future holds, she said, she plans on sticking with journalism and using her interest in world affairs as a foundation and this summer’s internship in Washington, D.C. as the first major step toward her dream.

“I want to really understand people,” she said, “I've learned to just go for it. I feel like I'm doing something important.”

Quick is a recipient of the Bunton-Waller Scholarship, the David and Mary Lee Jones Journalism Scholarship and the Gatto Trustee Scholarship.