Junior Park Scholars attend shadowing experience in New York City

Maura Gladys, 10/26/2009  ·  0 comments

Junior Park Scholars take in the Knicks-Nets preseason game at Madison Square Garden

While many Ithaca College students spent their fall breaks catching up on sleep, junior Park Scholars traveled to New York City to shadow Ithaca alums and media professionals in the city. The trip, which took place Oct. 15-17, is an annual experience for all junior Park Scholars.

“The goal of the experience is to introduce Park Scholars to professionals working in areas of interest to them,” said Matt Fee, director of the Park Scholar Program. “As these students plan their own futures, professionally as well as personally, it is enormously helpful to have guides and mentors.”

This year, Scholars shadowed at Democracy Now!, Live with Regis and Kelly, EPSN, CBS Radio, Sesame Workshop, McCann Erickson and Fourth Wall Events, among others.

Junior television-radio major Karla Berberich shadowed Ithaca alum Art Moore, the producer of Live with Regis and Kelly. Berberich observed the set and the control room during the live broadcast, saw the crew reconstruct their studio for a political debate and got a tour of ABC Studios. She also got a one on one session with Moore, which gave her insight into breaking into the media business.

“It was really cool to meet an alum who has been in the business for more than 40 years,” Berberich said. “I received invaluable advice that will benefit me in the future.”

Television-radio major Corinne Colgan shadowed Peter Van Roden at Sesame Workshop where she sat in on several meetings, including a script discussion and got a tour of the facilities.

“My visit to Sesame Workshop was extremely informative,” Colgan said. “I got to learn more about various aspects of production that I wasn’t aware of previously. ”

On Friday night, several scholars got the opportunity to attend a pre-season NBA game between the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets in ESPN’s luxury box at Madison Square Garden. Junior journalism major Maura Gladys received the tickets courtesy of Ithaca alum Laurie Greenberg, whom she shadowed at ESPN.


Scholars spent Saturday taking in the sights of the city, seeing Broadway shows and shopping. They returned to Ithaca Saturday night after a whirlwind three days.