Aliyah Walker will be pursuing a Communications degree at Meredith College starting this fall, and Capitol Broadcasting is proud to help give her a head start towards her career goals this summer. Walker is working as a WRAL-TV News Intern this summer, learning the ins and outs of the news business.
Walker recently graduated from Green Hope High School in Cary.
“I found out about the internship through the editor of my high school’s news site,” she explained. “He had posted about the position, and immediately it caught my eye. Since elementary school, I always had a fascination with all that entailed the world of news. I knew this opportunity would allow me to gain significant knowledge and hands-on experience that would add to all I had learned from journalism class during my senior year that would help me improve and grow as an individual.”
WRAL News Intern Aliyah Walker (left) learns from WRAL-TV News Producer Miriam Melvin in the newsroom.
Walker started her WRAL News internships at the beginning of June and will work at the station through the end of July. She is being given exposure to a plethora of the facets of putting together the news.
“At WRAL, I have been shadowing different departments within the station and sometimes performing similar tasks alongside those I am working with,” said Walker. “I have learned and done many cool things, such as editing videos, segments, and images for the broadcast and News+, controlling the audio in the control room and the cameras in the news studio, gathering stories for WRAL to use on their site, and so much more.”
She is excited about the opportunity to learn in a professional environment, seeing real-world work going on up close.
“There’s so much I have gotten to experience, and I am so blessed and grateful to have the privilege to explore the different components of a news station, especially at my age,” Walker continued. “No day is the same as the one before it, and each day brings more knowledge than the last. I am learning something new, even if I am not physically doing something, and much of what I have learned so far has come from watching and observing those around me as they work.”
Walker recently met with Corp Vice President of Social Responsibility Loretta Harper-Arnold as part of her time with the station.
“She’s a remarkable young woman who is already learning through hands on experience the ins and outs of News,” Harper-Arnold said of the young intern.
WRAL News Intern Aliyah Walker (left) with WRAL-TV News Producer Miriam Melvin in the newsroom.
Part of Walker’s success is her attitude. She is eager to learn and ready to embrace whatever the workday might hold.
“I entered this experience with an open mind, an eager heart, and high expectations for all I would face, and I can positively say my experience at WRAL has been greater than I could have imagined,” she told CapCom. “Everyone I have met has been so welcoming and friendly and has been so generous and patient enough to take the time out of their busy schedules to sit with me and extend grace and kindness toward me and teach me so many different things, from how to work Edius to how to maneuver through and handle the stresses that might come from a job in broadcast television.”
Walker concluded, “I’ve gained not only technical lessons but life lessons that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my career and life, and I’m grateful for it all and for everyone I’ve gotten the chance to interact with. I have never been welcomed and embraced by others as I have at WRAL, and I am deeply appreciative.”
Capitol Broadcasting Company and WRAL-TV are proud to offer students a chance to learn. CBC has a companywide fall internship program for HBCU students for which a second class is about to begin, and various other internship opportunities, akin to the one Walker is experiencing, posted throughout the year. Check out the latest on the Careers section of the CBC website.
WRAL News Intern Aliyah Walker
