I have two thoughts when I first walk in: 1) Wow, that is a lot of red, white, and blue. And 2) How are these people surviving? It is 85 degrees out, the sun is blazing, and they are all wearing pantsuits and jackets.
It’s all part of the atmosphere, I suppose, but I feel the sweat drip down my neck as I shake a reporter’s hand who has come all the way from England for this: the 2024 Republican National Convention!
As an upcoming sophomore in college, I cannot believe my luck of landing an internship that grants me access to such a major convention. Despite feeling way-in-over-my-head, I traveled from the Chicago suburbs to Milwaukee. Thankfully, I have my editor, Rob Golub, by my side for the whole thing.
We make our way through the sea of people wearing lanyards and patriotic business attire, to the entrance of the Fiserv Forum, which is where the main speakers will take the stage every day and night. “RNC 2024 MILWAUKEE” is displayed across the exterior.
Slowly, we walk up to the entrance. I flash them my press pass and wince – will they let me in? The man wearing the red “volunteer” shirt smiles at me as I pass through the doors.
I’m in.
We head upstairs to the seating area entrance and finally enter into where the stage is. I scan the perimeter of the massive arena and spot major news outlets: CBS, CNN, Fox, and more! Their news organization names light up above their designated boxes where they will report. Inside their coves are treasures for a journalism intern like me. I spy cameras, lights and teleprompters, with reporters and producers all gearing up to cover one of the most critical political events of the year.
For the next three days, Rob and I are bouncing between the convention and the local Jewish community – writing, interviewing, listening, editing, and writing some more.
We meet journalists from The New Yorker and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, both willing to share advice and insight with an aspiring journalist. We chat with guys selling Trump poetry books and an alternate delegate from Rhode Island, all more than willing to answer our questions.
Almost every day of the convention, Rob and I sit and work at the media center that the RNC had set up on the third floor of the Baird Center. There’s free coffee and water, comfy couches, numerous tables and power outlets.
One time, we sit at a table next to another man on his laptop. As he packs up his stuff to head to the Fiserv Forum, Rob strikes up a conversation. We learn the man is a reporter from Switzerland who works as the D.C. correspondent for his news organization.
I think my eyes almost popped out of my head as my world expanded.
We sat next to him for at least two hours, and I had no clue who he was or where he was from. And all because of a simple “hello” and “what are you up to?” I learn where he lives, what his job entails, and his thoughts about Switzerland, the U.S. and the convention.
“Sometimes I forget how many important people are probably here right now,” I tell Rob as we walk out of the Baird Center after the interaction. We pass the C-Span and CNN media set up and it hits me – they probably send some of their top reporters here, and I’m less than 15 feet away from some of them!
As we make our way to the exit gate, I take it in one last time: the camera equipment, the yellow lanyards that signify “media,” the golf carts whizzing delegates around, and the way every sign is about twice the size of my 5-foot frame.
I remember all the people I have met: the ones who traveled overseas, the ones who traveled cross-country, and even the ones who traveled 15 minutes.
I am incredibly grateful for everything I have experienced and learned this summer. I can hardly wait to someday work as a full-time journalist.
* * *
Rebecca Spezzano, 19, is a rising sophomore majoring in journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. During freshman year, she worked 2 a.m.-7 a.m. shifts at a local TV station there. The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle internship program trains tomorrow’s leading journalists.
Loading ...