SJC Brooklyn’s Computer Club, SJC Squared (SJC²), took its first field trip of the fall 2017 semester, visiting the headquarters of NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, on Nov. 6.
Led by Jim Collins, director of photography for NBC News, the 11 St. Joseph’s students toured the vast offices and participated in a Q&A session. The computer-based SJC² members, most of whom are majoring in computer information technology and math/computer science, were joined by journalism and new media studies students. So while a visit to NBC Studios’ state-of-the-art I.T. department was the highlight for some of the more math-centric in attendance, experiencing the NBC/MSNBC newsroom was the focal point for others.
“I wasn’t sure if I was more impressed by all of the amazing things we saw, or by just how engaged and participating each of our students were throughout the trip,” said student Michael Galke. “I was really proud of them. Mark this one as another success for our club!”
We don’t just want our students to acquire work skills from their education, we want them to get an exposure to a real work environment.”
In addition to stepping foot on the same set as such NBC news anchors as Lester Holt, Chris Hayes, Andrea Mitchell and Brian Williams, students ended up getting an up-close and personal exhibition of how NBC/MSNBC gets daily access to thousands of images from photojournalism outlets such as the Associated Press, Getty Images and Reuters.
“We don’t just want our students to acquire work skills from their education, we want them to get an exposure to a real work environment,” said SJC² founder and professor Salim Arfaoui. “The field trip is an important tool for meeting this goal.”
