Journalism junior Brittanie Chludzinski has always had a love for journalism. She still remembers putting on nightly newscasts for her parents when she was little.
"I would write stuff up and pretend I was speaking as an anchor or reporter. I don’t really know where I got that from, I just thought it was fun," Chludzinski said.
Then, when she got to high school, she joined the school newspaper at the urging of her English teacher. Later, her JRN 200 professor Omar Sofradzija encouraged her to apply to The State News.
"That was my first real journalism experience," she said. "It was such an amazing experience and I learned about reporting and being persistent. That was a really good foundation."
Since then, Chludzinski has worked with MSU Telecasters, PRSSA’s Hubble Connections and The Big Green.
Those experiences helped her to land an internship at WJBK FOX 2 in Detroit.
As a news intern, Chludzinski worked closely with reporter Deena Centofanti. She helped research story ideas, scheduled and conducted interviews, and wrote packages that eventually aired on television.
"It was really cool because she put a lot of trust in me and gave me the opportunity to go out and do it on my own," Chludzinski said.
One of the most useful things she learned throughout the summer was writing for broadcast.
"It’s a lot more conversational, and obviously you depend a lot more on visuals to tell your story," Chludzinski said. "Deena was really helpful in helping me develop my voice and developing this new skill, since it was something I didn’t have a lot of experience in."
All of her work experiences have helped Chludzinski to realize just how many skills she has.
"Now I have a really broad skillset that I can apply to different things," she said. "Even if I have a PR job, I could still be making videos or doing broadcast stuff or writing feature stories. But if I do the journalism side, I still need to know how to target different audiences and share a message concisely. All these skills really go together."
Chludzinski also feels the College of Communication Arts and Sciences has been immensely helpful in her career – from her interactions with encouraging professors to having multiple professional opportunities on campus to taking classes with real-world applications.
"In one PR class, we made a whole media kit. We wrote press releases and newsletters and brochures," she said. "That was a really cool experience because we walked away from the class with something we could show employers without even having a job."