Abby Brooks' CNN Internship

Senior English major Abby Brooks had a memorable experience this summer interning at CNN.  Here is her narrative about the internship.

Like many of my peers, I spent this summer interning. As final exams were wrapping up last spring, I was anxiously anticipating the beginning of my summer job at CNN in the U.S. Business News Unit in New York City. A journalism internship in the biggest, greatest city in the world was, needless to say, a dream opportunity. As excited as I was to begin my post at CNN, I was also extremely nervous; business journalism wasn’t exactly something that I was prepared for, and I feared that my lack of business experience would hinder my performance.

My fears could not have been less warranted. I had an amazing summer at CNN, and it turned out that the skills I’ve picked up over my years as an English major were critical, even in a business unit. The business knowledge came to be something that I was able to pick up as I went along; more important was my ability to read and think analytically and write concisely. Being given the opportunity to actually write news packages for television was one of the highlights of my summer, and although writing for TV is vastly different from the writing I’ve done for my English courses, I would never have been successful at my internship without the ability to write thoughtfully and concisely - a skill that I have honed over my English career at Villanova.

Abby (in cap) at CNN this summer.

As an English major, I know that I’ve had the dreaded question from family and friends, “English? What are you going to do with an English major?” I’ve heard the horror stories, and I’ve had my fair share of fears when it comes to my impending graduation. But after this summer, I feel confident that I am not only an employable English major, but that the skills that I’ve honed over the last three years in my English courses will be invaluable to my future career.