Some Stories Just Come to You | Endowment Intern Shannon

Juneteenth Interview and Event

When you work in the journalism field you’ll quickly realize that some stories just fall in your lap and certainly the Juneteenth Rock Hill piece I’m editing is one of those stories for me. On this second week of my SCETV internship, I led interviews with two of the Juneteenth Rock Hill board members to get the inside scoop on what it takes to put together a community event like the Juneteenth celebration.

I was excited when I learned that my first video piece would be about Juneteenth because my professor, Dr. Frederick, is a member of the Juneteenth Rock Hill board. I met the board members a few weeks ago when I was asked to take their group picture to be published in their newsletter. Thanks to my connection, I easily set up an interview with Dr. Frederick and the current board president Mrs. Carlo Dawson. I felt comfortable leading the interviews because both Dr. Frederick and Mrs. Dawson are easy to talk to.  

Next, my intern supervisor and SCETV Producer Kaitlyn and I went to the Juneteenth Rock Hill kickoff on Friday evening. I was able to get behind the camera and record clips of students and families enjoying the event. I’ll have to admit: I was a little nervous at the beginning of the event because I’m still learning the new equipment, but I’m confident that I got some nice clips that will help shed light on what Juneteenth Rock Hill is all about.

The Juneteenth story is coming together nicely. I’ll be editing some more of the video so it will be ready to publish on June 19th.  A bunch of my friends and family are looking forward to watching my first video because they want to see the type of work I do. I believe this story is going to have a positive impact because Juneteenth is a holiday that many people don’t know about. I’m genuinely grateful that this Juneteenth Rock Hill story fell into my lap so I’m doing my best on this piece and learning as much as I can along the way.