Burlington Standard

The University Of Vermont issued the following announcement.

As a first-year student at UVM, Adrian Pastor had no idea what he wanted to do, but the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics (CDAE) drew him in.

Now a senior public communication major, one of four majors based within CDAE, Pastor credits the department with helping him discover his current path in community media and journalism.

Over the past year, Pastor has been working as a news intern at WPTZ, Burlington’s local NBC News affiliate, through a fellowship from the Emma Bowen Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports students of color in the media industry. With just a few weeks until graduation, Pastor has been offered a job at WPTV as an on-air reporter.

As an intern, Pastor has had many responsibilities that have set him up for success as a journalist. Some days he works as an assistant producer and others he reports stories to be published online or broadcast on television.

“My job is to interact with people all over the state every day. So, there are days where I have to drive to Stowe or…to St. Albans to get a story. So, getting to interact with all the different kinds of people that the state has been just really awesome,” he explained. 

After shadowing other reporters, Pastor is now in their shoes, conducting interviews and reading from a script for broadcasts. He has covered many local stories, most recently reporting on how the Vermont State Police are collecting and donating body armor to aid Ukraine,  how the recent weather would affect powerlines in VT, and the Vermont-based company OVR Technology’s new initiative to promote mindfulness and multisensory therapies.

Along with writing articles, Pastor has had the opportunity to interact with much of the greater Burlington community. In one recent broadcast about the rise in gas prices due to the war in Ukraine, Pastor ventured out to interview Vermont drivers at a local gas station about their thoughts on the price increase. 

As a CDAE student, Pastor learned many lessons and skills that have helped him go into the world of news and media. One of the most important has been how to interact with and interview people. 

“Definitely through CDAE, being in public communication specifically, you learn that different people have different communication styles, and that kind of translates in everything you do on a daily basis – not only in work but just in dealing with different people every day,” he said.

He noted that CDAE 144: Community Media Production with Myles Jewell greatly helped him develop the communication and interviewing skills he uses at WPTZ. Pastor explained the course emphasized the art of the interview and how everyone has a different communication style. One tip he took away from the class was to make people laugh.

Since many people are camera-shy, Pastor says that by making someone laugh, they’re more likely to get comfortable and forget about the cameras. Through this, he has been able to have a deeper conversation with his interviewees.

Another helpful lesson learned through CDAE was how to use Adobe Premiere, a video editing program, through Steve Kostell’s CDAE 195: Storytelling and Video Production course. This skill gave Pastor a head start at his internship where he needs to edits sequences and settings for the final product.

Some foundational communication skills gained in CDAE 024: Fundamentals of Public Communication have stuck with him. Pastor explained that in the course, “you start to learn that communications within itself is just a fundamental tool for almost anything that you want to do.” 

The more he learned in CDAE 024, the more he saw the value in what can be achieved with clear communication and learning about the different ways and forms people use to communicate, especially within the workplace. After the course, Pastor found himself examining other people’s communication patterns, and has been able to sense when a miscommunication arises and use his public communication skills to resolve it.

Through these lessons within CDAE, along with his time as a Bowen Fellow, Pastor has been able to adapt to the fast-paced yet rewarding experience that journalism provides. 

“I think we all can apply stuff we learned in CDAE to what we do every day or how we approach certain situations or stories,” says Pastor.

Gabriela Felitto is a senior public communication major at UVM with a concentration in community media & journalism. This article originally appeared in the CDAE Spring 2022 newsletter.

Original source can be found here.