San Francisco High School Interns Report on Working at KALW

By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Radio

Last week was our last week with Allison Aj-Pop Perez, Eloisa Herbert, Kasey Chen, and Susanna Luo, our bright, cheerful, smart, motivated, and diligent summer high school interns from the San Francisco Unified School District. It was a real pleasure to have them in our newsroom, and we’re looking forward to scheduling a listening party at the station where we’ll share their stories!
Earlier in their internship program, I asked them for their thoughts about working with us. Here’s what they had to say:

Kasey Chan
My name is Kasey Chen and I am a high school intern here at KALW radio station this summer. So far, I have had a really fun time here because I’m learning something new everyday, and everything I do contributes to something bigger. I enjoyed learning how to use a recorder – which was something I never thought I’d use – as well as how to use ProTools professional audio editing software. Getting to tour the station and watch people do recordings in studios was fun as well, because I got to see what I will be doing eventually. I am also being pushed to talk to others in order to set up interviews, and talking has always been a problem of mine – because of this, I can grow to be more comfortable talking to people. Additionally, the atmosphere of the newsroom has always been very friendly, and I feel like I can be at ease with everyone here.

Allison Ajpop-Perez
The past two weeks at KALW have been great. Everyone is nice and helpful. The vibe is very positive as well. It has been very exciting and interesting because I got to interview people whom I didn’t really know and I got to know them better. I was also able to learn how to properly hold a recorder and learned how to adjust the levels and to always record room tone. I learned how to use the program ProTools which was really fun, because we got to ask people around the station to pick a number and at the end we put it all together in a sound mix. I enjoyed listening to a different piece of radio everyday, because I got learn a lot about places in San Francisco or around the Bay Area that I have not heard before. I also loved the different sounds that were in each piece because they went very well with the story.

Susanna Luo
During my time in the KALW Newsroom, I learned how to use a recorder and Pro Tools to record and edit audio. While practicing with the recorders, we interviewed various staff at KALW and learned more about them. Jeremy [Dalmas ’14] and Holly [McDede] had us listen to radio pieces to learn about how they are formatted and made to help guide us when we create our own. We began working on our pieces after we pitched and did research and contacted the people we planned to interview. I did some of my interviews already, but there is still much more to be done.

Eloisa Herbert
In my two weeks here working here in the newsroom, I didn’t expect any part of what happened to happen. I didn’t expect for it to be so fun and welcoming. Everyone is so kind and something new happens everyday. I’ve learned a lot, like how to use a recorder as well as ProTools. I’ve learned a lot just from watching others in the newsroom record or write up their scripts for their piece. Everyone working here has a very unique personality, and it really makes the room come alive!