A recently graduated Lethbridge College student is set to receive real-world experience in the world of journalism as this year’s recipient of the annual Troy Reeb internship. Alejandra Pulido-Guzman, a 2021 graduate of the college’s Digital Communications and Media program, is this year’s recipient, and she will begin a three-month paid internship as a videographer with Global Lethbridge.
Now in its 16th year, the Troy Reeb internship is sponsored by Reeb, the Executive Vice President, Broadcast Networks for Corus Entertainment. A 1988 Lethbridge College Broadcast Journalism alumni, Reeb received an honorary degree from the college in 2019 and was named the college’s Distinguished Alumni recipient in 2003.
Previous winners of the internship had the opportunity to spend 10 days in major market television and radio settings in Toronto and Ottawa, but with travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new solution was reached that will allow Pulido-Guzman to receive more hands-on opportunity and to be paid for her work.
“Alejandra has proven herself to be smart, worldly and passionate about storytelling,” says Reeb. “We’re thrilled to have her join the Global Lethbridge team for this well-deserved opportunity to showcase her hard work and talent to the community.”
To apply for the competitive internship, Pulido-Guzman wrote a news story about how aquaponics operations may be a key to global food production sustainability and the ability for aquaponics producers to grow a variety of produce regardless of the climate where they live. The well-researched and reported story showed the potential Pulido-Guzman has for a career in journalism.
“I’m looking forward to continuing to learn through this opportunity,” says Pulido-Guzman. “There are things you learn in school, but other things can only be learned by being out in the world and actually doing it. I look forward to the pressure of being out there for three months, and I can’t wait for this experience.”
Pulido-Guzman’s arrival at Lethbridge College in 2019 was part of a career change. She is also a 2013 graduate of the college’s Civil Engineering Technology program and she had worked as a technologist following her graduation. However, dust from her career working in concrete testing was affecting her daughter’s health, so she decided to change careers and re-enrolled at Lethbridge College.
Journalism appealed to her, in part because of the inspiration of the role of journalists in her native Colombia where she says, “it was literally thanks to the news that we knew whether it was safe to leave the house or not.” Now she is looking forward to playing a role in informing the community in her new home in Lethbridge.
“(Journalism) is a way of me giving back because I was able to stay informed thanks to journalists, and I want to do the same thing for people from Lethbridge,” says Pulido-Guzman. “Obviously it’s a completely different environment and I might not be saving their lives on a daily basis, but the news and keeping informed is so important and I want to give that back to the community where I have been living for 20 years.”
Pulido-Guzman is the 16th Lethbridge College student to earn this unique internship opportunity. Past winners include Quinn Ohler of Global Edmonton, Dan Grummett of CTV Edmonton and Skylar Peters of Global Winnipeg and 680 CJOB.
More information on the Digital Communications and Media program is available on the Lethbridge College website.