As you settle in to wall-to-wall coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics, it might enhance your enjoyment of the games to know that a recent Saugerties High alum and graduate of the school’s computer video production program is getting some serious on-the-job training courtesy of a summer internship with NBC.
Mike Caffrey, a junior at Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of Communications majoring in television and radio, is one of just 35 interns learning the ropes during one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. While many of the interns chosen to work on the Olympics for NBC are in London, Caffrey is reporting to work each day at 30 Rock, cutting highlights of numerous sports for NBCOlympics.com after watching the live feed. Headquartered in the studio best known for being the home of Saturday Night Live, Caffrey’s first week of work in the Highlight Factory has seen him cover sports he’s familiar with and others that he had to develop more than a passing knowledge of, like judo.
Caffrey, who has been crashing with a relative in uptown Manhattan during a summer which began with five weeks of work for the Major League Baseball Network, has been thoroughly enjoying his immersion in the world of sports broadcasting, an extension of work he’s performed at the collegiate level at Ithaca College. Still, with two years remaining as an undergrad, he’s not sure whether he wants a career in television, film or radio.
“I’ve been having this argument with myself about which I like more, and I can’t decide ,” Caffrey said. “Whichever presents the best opportunity when I get out of college in those three fields, I’m probably going to take it because I love all three equally.”