3 Months Internship Update at King 5 News

God sure works in wonderful ways. I don’t always understand His vision for my life (in fact, I usually don’t) but something about where I am in life right now seems too serendipitous to not be an act of God’s good will.

I’ve been pining after an internship with King 5 News since forever ago. My freshman year of college I went to PLU in Tacoma hoping for the opportunity to intern and volunteer and network with Seattle news stations. But then PLU got rid of its journalism studies so I had to transfer five hours away to Pullman. And somewhere along the 5 hour drive east, my dreams disappeared into the rolling hills of wheat fields. But somehow that dream found me again, thanks to the gift of all gifts.

A gap year.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: taking a gap year has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, period. For toooo many reasons to name them all, but mainly this: I got my dream back of interning with King 5 again. But of course, in true Solen fashion, it almost didn’t happen because life is never that simple for me.

I applied to intern with King 5’s local programming department last summer when I first began my gap year. I wanted this more than anything, but I also kept my options open and applied to a few more internships, including one with my hometown, the City of Kent communications team. The timing of my interviews with both internships got complicated, and the City of Kent offered me an internship before King 5 did. At that point I wasn’t sure if King 5 was going to offer me the job at all, so I took the one with the City of Kent. Only to hear back a positive yes from King 5 the day after I signed my offer letter with the City of Kent. Because of course that happened, haha.

But- this story has a happy ending. I reached back out to King 5 and told them what happened, and how I couldn’t go back on my word after I told the City of Kent I would intern with them. And the wonderful director of local programming, who unfortunately isn’t with the company anymore, told me to apply for their internship again in the Spring, which I couldn’t wait to do.

I ended up loving my 6 months interning with the City of Kent, and it was a blast getting to learn so much about communications and social media. I really liked my coworkers and getting to meet some amazing community members at city sponsored events. And it made me appreciate my hometown in a whole new way I didn’t see before. I now know all the best restaurants and parks I didn’t realize even existed in Kent until I worked there. You could spend your whole life living in Kent and not see all there is too it- that’s what’s so amazing about the city!

And after I wrapped with the City of Kent, you can bet I applied for the internship at King 5 again. And this time, I did it on pure faith and waited out a couple of months in between leaving my last internship to hear back from them. The couple months between January and March until I heard back felt like the longest period of my life. I got so restless and anxious I wouldn’t get the job, that my nerves almost got the best of me and I started planning on traveling instead interning with King 5. I can’t believe I came so close to the internship I’ve wanted for years and almost blew it all because I got too restless waiting to hear back. Thank God I found some common sense and decided to wait it out because, well, I did get the job! And I’ve been LOVING it for the past three months. Next month I’ll have a little less than two months left with them, and I’m getting super sad just even writing that out.

I don’t know if everything happens for a reason, but I believe some things definitely do. The timing of this internship couldn’t have been more perfect. I moved closer to Seattle when I started with King, and of the 11 moves I’ve made in the past 4 years, this one has been my favorite. I love where I live. I love where I work. I love the new places I’ve made my own and the life I’ve gotten to create in Des Moines since I started working at King 5. I’m forever grateful, and each day of my life is the best day ever because I’m living out my dreams I had as a freshman in college. I would have given a kidney to work in Seattle for one of the best stations in local news, and I don’t take where I am now for granted, not even for a second.

So far I’ve gotten to work a lot on our social media, and I’ve put a lot of time into growing our Tik-Tok. We had less than 50 followers on the app when I first started, and now we have more than 300! Yay!

I went on some really fun shoots to amazing restaurants, landmarks, and local businesses that make Seattle the special city it is. I’ve felt like a sponge the entire time because I’m constantly absorbing more and more about how this industry works & how good t.v. is made. Everyone’s been so wonderful in going out of their way to teach me tricks and give me tips for how to be successful in this field too. I even got to be a guest on our other local programming show, New Day Northwest, to talk about Ramadan! Such a fun moment! I seriously can’t wait for the next three months, and I hope it doesn’t go by as fast as the first half has.

The girl I was freshman year wouldn’t have believed it all worked out in the end, and I did end up interning with King 5 even though I transferred schools far away. I still can’t believe it some days! If you know me, you know I’m not one to ever say I have good luck (knock on wood for me) but I think with this I do. Either my luck’s turning around, or God’s finally answering my prayers. Either way, I’ll take it.

Sincerely,

Solen xxx