As a Communication student, finding an internship that applies to your concentration can be challenging. With so many, or so few options, how do you go about finding an internship and deciding which one you want to pursue?
Teddy Vardaros is a senior studying TV/Video Production here at Olivet. It was during the Summer of 2025 that he completed his required internship. He shares his experience and the process behind finding his internship.
The Experience
“I worked at PBS Michiana in South Bend,” Vardaros said. “I did things from camera work, to video editing, to audio, and lots of floor directing.”
The internship itself was three months long, from June through August. PBS Michiana, or WNIT, is an offshoot of PBS with 5 channels under that title: The primary broadcasting channel, “Create,” 24/7 PBS kids, Weather, and “Learning.” Vardaros was working with the primary broadcasting channel. There are two shows Vardaros worked on during his time at WNIT.
“One of them is an educational initiative show where it basically talks about how education goes beyond school,” Vardaros said, “teaching adults how to start a business or teaching kids about history or play, covering local programs.”
The other show was essentially a weekend travel guide, covering things to do and places to go in the surrounding local area.
The main shows weren’t the only things he worked on while he was there, however.
The Search
Vardaros found his internship by looking up any and all TV stations in nearby cities, calling them or applying online to see if they have any internships available. “I applied to the stations in Chicago, some in Indianapolis, some other stations in South Bend.
“There’s like a CBS station out there, an ABC station out there that I applied to. I applied to one in Fort Wayne, I applied to anywhere,” Vardaros said, “the only stations that got back to me were Channel 7 in Chicago. I only got two replies that said no. Every other station ghosted me. And WNIT in South Bend was the only one that accepted me.”
“South Bend originally wasn’t going to be a place where I wanted to go to because I didn’t really think that they would have good internship opportunities out there, but my parents visited me and I told them about my search. My mom suggested “why don’t you try going to South Bend?” I hadn’t thought of that.”
Teddy Vardaros
Once he found and applied to his internship, Vardaros contacted his advisor, Dr. Heather McLaughlin. The next step was another phone call, “They talked together over the phone,” Vardaros said, “She (the senior producer), explained what the internship program was and what I would be doing, Dr. McLaughlin then explained the internship class to her.”
When looking for a TV/Video internship the basic steps are:
- Look around, anywhere you can think of
- Apply to multiple places, see who responds, accepts
- Talk to your advisor to set up the class credits.
If you would like to read more about off-campus internship programs, consider reading Gain Hands-On Experience Through CMC Nashville
