There are three things in life I love -- My family, Pittsburgh and TV News.  Luckily for me, I get the chance to enjoy all three this summer while completing an internship for WPXI.

Even though I have lived in Connecticut my entire life, Pittsburgh has always been my second home for me since I was little.  My father grew up in Westmoreland County, where most of my relatives are, and my mom attended college in Pittsburgh.  Every summer (and some holidays), our family would pack up the car and make the 500 mile, 10 hour trip to Pittsburgh to see family, with a stop along the way in Carlisle to visit my grandmother.  Needless to say, when I made the drive over here by myself this past week, the GPS wasn’t much help since I already knew the way.

You know on the “Today Show” when Al Roker says at the end of his weather report, “here’s what happening in your neck of the woods?”  I have always considered Pittsburgh my “neck of the woods” and have very fond memories of Pittsburgh and the Allegheny Valley.  While my classmates in school shared about their trips to Disney World or Cape Cod, I shared about the fun I had at Kennywood or Sandcastle.  (Who needs Disney World, anyway, when you have two awesome amusement parks right outside the city)?  I explored the Carnegie Science Center, ate at restaurants in Station Square and watched baseball games at PNC Park.  I even saw Ty Pennington one year while touring Fallingwater.  Over the years, I grew to love the city and in high school, decided that I would either attend college in Pittsburgh or complete an internship at a TV station in Pittsburgh. 

I ended up applying and got accepted to Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT, where I am currently studying Film, Video, and Interactive Media with a minor in Interactive Digital Design.  (If you’re unfamiliar with the name, that’s okay because it is a pain to spell and pronounce).  At QU, I’m technical director and audio engineer for Q30, which is our campus TV station.  It’s both exciting and stressful at the same time, especially in the seconds before we go live on-air, but I love it.

TV News has always been an interest of mine my entire life, and I consider myself a “TV News Junkie.”  I know this because every time I look at my Facebook News Feed, nearly every post is from the various TV stations I follow.  I watch old newscasts on YouTube and record newscasts from cities across the country I travel to rather than the latest episode of “Jersey Shore,” which, to the surprise of my friends, I completely detest.  When I was little, I was fascinated with weather and watched the local TV meteorologists give their forecasts—and still do with interest today.

With that being said, I am thrilled at the opportunity to intern for “See And Be Seen” at WPXI this summer.  I love traveling, exploring, and reporting on all of the events in the Pittsburgh area, and can’t wait to “See and be Seen” what event I’ll be covering next.

And I promise not to include play on words in every blog post I write this summer.