WRAL-TV Employees See Their Shadows

Puxatawnee Phil wasn't the only one to see his shadow last Friday, February 2. Several WRAL-TV employees had shadows of their own for the Groundhog Career Shadow Day.

In conjunction with Junior Achievement of Eastern North Carolina, Wake County Public Schools Systems, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and Wake Education Partnership, WRAL-TV welcomed several Wake County high school students into its studios. These students were given the opportunity to learn about facets of the broadcasting industry.

Post-Production Superviser Steve Elizondo (right) explains the ins & outs of editing to students Lynn Wilford & Josh Gay.

Shadow Samantha Cohen learns a little about TV news producing from WRAL-TV Producer Chris Shigas.

Career Shadow Day is dedicated to giving the children of Wake County experience with careers in which they are interested. Students across the United States shadowed workplace mentors as they went through a normal day on the job, getting an up-close look at how the skills learned in school related to the workplace.

Over 1,800 Wake County students took part in Career Shadow Day 2001. Students participating in Career Shadow Day at WRAL-TV included Samantha Cohen, Josh Gay, Lynn Wilford and Nick Raeford of East Wake High School and Nick Sepe of Enloe High School. Sepe is also a member of Post 5, WRAL's 31-year-old career exploration program. He shadowed the operations department.

Gary Dixon (right), Career Development Coordinator at East Wake High School joins WRAL's Chris Shigas in the new newsroom.

WRAL-TV Director/Producer Clarence Williams coordinated the project for the station. Williams paired students with WRAL employees and thought the program offered them an educational, frank look at what skills they need to learn. The morning of shadowing ended with a lunch for the students and the department heads at WRAL-TV. The students could ask questions and get honest answers on what steps they need to take to pursue a broadcasting career.

Williams said, "This is not new…Jim Goodmon [CBC President & CEO] essentially started this type of thing at WRAL 31 years ago with Post 5." WRAL sponsors Learning For Life through the Post nine months out of the year. Williams says the station "has kids in here every day."

WRAL has worked with Career Development Coordinators in Wake County Schools on Groundhog Career Shadow Day since the program's inception. WRAL-TV Station Manager Jim Griffin said, "The students seemed to get a kick out of being here...it was a great learning experience...our folks really enjoyed having them with us."