New Albany High School graduate Elizabeth Googe will be getting a once in a lifetime opportunity later this month when she will serve as an intern for the highly publicized Presidential Debate at the University of Mississippi.
Googe, who is one out of a handful of students to be chosen to intern for the event, began buffing up her resume about a year ago soon after the announcement that the university would be hosting the debate. Approximately one hundred tickets will be available to students and the rest of the attendees will be members of the press.
Googe, a 2007 graduate of New Albany High School, is currently majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in Broadcasting at the University of Mississippi. She serves on the staff of The Daily Mississippian and as an anchor for the campus TV show Newswatch.
In addition to her persuasive demeanor, Googe attributes several things to her receiving the internship. She had completed internships with the New Albany Gazette and WTVA during her high school years. Googe also credits her ability to edit video really well as a major reason for her selection.
She contributes most of her success to the journalism program at New Albany High School. “About half of the things I do every day I learned while working on the yearbook, newspaper, or TV show while in high school,” she stated.
Kelly Coltharp, one of Elizabeth’s former journalism advisors, gives Elizabeth much of the credit for the success the high school journalism program now enjoys. “When Elizabeth first began journalism, she only wanted to write.” Coltharp continued, “But as time went by, we made her get in front of the camera and she was a natural. She raised the bar for our high school journalism class and the program is better because of her.”
Googe will be working two to three hours daily Monday through Friday during the month of September to prepare and organize the event. She will mostly be working with different members of the media to get them prepared. She knows that all of the interns will be assigned to certain media that will be attending the debate. Members of the press will look at the interns’ resumes and choose the intern they would like to work with for the week. “Of course I’m hoping I get to work with someone from Fox News,” Googe stated.
Googe is unsure of what her specific assignment will be in the Ford Center on the night of September 26, 2008 during the Presidential Debate. In response to which job she would choose, she stated, “If I had the choice of where I would be that evening, I would definitely want to be in the hotbox interviewing McCain or Obama,”
Note: New Albany School District is proud of all its graduates. If you know of a graduate who has received an honor, please e-mail Melanie Shannon, Public Relations at mshannon@newalbany.k12.ms.us.
