Every semester, NIU student interns work at Northern Public Radio, the broadcast arm of NIU, in the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development. These students have a remarkable opportunity to learn how a real newsroom works and get hands-on work experience related to their fields of study.
WNIJ News Director Jenna Dooley wrote this blog post summarizing some of the contributions the station’s student interns have made this spring.
*
I wanted to take a moment to share some examples of the incredible contributions our student interns have been making around the station. Their skills are so impactful to serving the community through the power of public radio. Here’s a little “show and tell” of this important work.
Interns Nam, Roger and Frances collaborate on a mural project in the Northern Public Radio studio building.
Kaitlyn Lee-Gordon is the trusted voice of our noon newscasts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You might also catch her as the voice you hear for underwriting announcements when you listen to the WNIJ app. She will be working on her final audio feature as part of her newsroom internship. Stay tuned!
Christian Romano is helping us with production related to the airing of This Week in Illinois History. It is a popular segment that will air during America 250 highlighting the various contributions of Illinois in the course of history. He is working to ensure the files are ready for air. He also assists with newsroom writing. On his very first shift, he helped coordinate coverage related to weather-related school closures.
Carlisle White is digitizing our station’s program guides that date as far back as 1968. This archive allows us to preserve decades of history in the region and find new ways to share these treasures with our audience.
Kyle Roland (Kishwaukee College student and Sycamore High School graduate) is the creative eye behind the launch of a new weekend roundup social media video featuring our Morning Host Jason Cregier. It helps listeners learn more about stories they may have missed and welcomes them into the weekend. He also works on social media graphics for our station’s Instagram account.
Lidia Marquez is helping with WNIJ Hola this semester. This is our Spanish language news service. It includes original reporting as well as creating social media graphics and translations to connect our content with DeKalb County families. The first issue recently hit newsstands around DeKalb.
The first issue of the WNIJ Hola newsletter hit newsstands in February 2026, thanks to the help of WNIJ Hola intern Lidia Marquez.
Eryn Lent is a copyediting intern and ensures that our station newsletter, news web posts and commentaries adhere to AP Style. She also creates social media graphics for the station’s Facebook page.
Nam Pham, Roger Martinez and Frances West are in the midst of a mural project to transform a bare wall into a creative destination as people enter our station for live events.
Jared Hurn is a graduate student in the School of Music, majoring in percussion performance. He’s helping us set up our studio for recordings with bands and local artists and learning more about live sound equipment. He also fixed up our in-studio drum set for us!
Daniel Massa is a recent NIU grad, May of ’25. He earned his bachelor’s in communications and media studies and currently does freelance video production for NIU’s IT division. He’s working with us to edit live performance videos for Sessions from Studio A for web and social media.
