Fairfield To 30 Rock

Alarm clocks set to 5 a.m., train ride commutes to New York City, and the high intensity, thrilling hustle of a buzzing newsroom—all while balancing rigorous coursework. This was the day-to-day experience for three undergraduates who made their dreams of working for NBC News a reality.

Roisin McCarthy ’25, Jenna Codey ’25, and Julian Nazario ’26 embraced three different intern roles, carving unique paths at 30 Rock. McCarthy worked at the National Network desk, where she assigned stories to reporters, ensured they were prepared, assisted with press conferences, and identified her own stories to cover.

As an editorial intern, Codey’s role centered on the user experience and the ever-changing news cycle, which was heavily influenced by breaking news. She wrote headlines, pitched stories, and strategically selected content to feature on the website’s homepage and the mobile app’s front page. She said her most memorable moments included working on election stories as well as the Grammys, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars.

Nazario worked as a digital intern. He curated coverage of congestion pricing, a health fair, and a toy fair convention for the website, and handled behind-the-scenes tasks that ranged from assisting with push notifications and utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) to managing the YouTube channel, social media, and preparing multimedia packages.

All three students valued having fellow Stags in the internship program. McCarthy said, “When we would go into 30 Rock, we’d always meet up and talk about what’s going on and what we were experiencing. I was fortunate to have others from Fairfield going through it with me.”

From the advice of professionals at Fairfield’s Career Center to skills learned in “Broadcast Communication,” “Newswriting,” and public relations courses, the interns felt well-prepared for their roles at NBC News. “I found there were so many overlaps. Every class that I took at Fairfield helped me in my internship,” said Codey.

Upon graduation, Codey secured a position as a public relations apprentice at Prosek Partners. McCarthy landed a role as a news producer for CBS in Portland, Maine. Both cited the combination of coursework, experiential learning, and internship opportunities with equipping them for their current full-time jobs.

Nazario is now a senior and plans to apply the SEO and multimedia skills gained during his internship to his work at The Fairfield Mirror student newspaper while he prepares for the job market. “Experience really matters and having interned at NBC will open other doors; I look forward to that,” he said

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