Many college students balancing a full schedule of classes, internships, leadership roles in campus organizations and life away from home need their sleep to succeed, and they get a little grumpy when their rest gets interrupted.
So, Grace Tomlinson was wondering what was happening in the hallway when she was trying to sleep last week — until she remembered she was on “Beijing time.”
Tomlinson, a Penn State senior completing an internship as a production assistant with NBC Sports during the Winter Olympics, has been sleeping during the day and working overnight. Her duties largely focus on the biathlon, an event that combines cross country skiing and marksmanship.
“Even if it’s not big in the U.S., it’s really big internationally,” Tomlinson said. She has been in Samford, Connecticut, part of the NBC Sports contingent covering the Winter Olympics in China mostly from afar. “It’s a wonderful experience, something that has been challenging and positive, with a lot of techy and nontechy highlights.”
Tomlinson moved into a hotel with other NBC Sports personnel Jan. 31. She’ll remain on site through Feb. 19.
Along with working mostly nights (from 10 p.m. to noon or later), she’s balancing four courses as she concludes her final year at Penn State. She has two web-based courses and she took a proactive approach for her two in-person courses, contacting faculty members before the semester started to develop a plan to complete assignments and participate from afar during the internship.
She initially applied for the spot with NBC Sports last August, just days after the Summer Olympics ended. She was tipped off about the opportunity by a friend who had previously completed the program. Tomlinson was interested and wanted to make the most of the opportunity.
Through the first week or so, reality has exceeded her expectations.
“It’s a chance work closely with a producer and a team. It’s been a little bit of everything — sitting in with an editor as he makes his cuts, helping get together documents for talent, requesting graphics,” Tomlinson said. “It’s pretty cool to be able to tell my friends and parents to watch and see things I helped design end up on TV.”
She has also appreciated some “cool” opportunities to meet producers from other Olympic sports as well as NBC Sports on-air talent. In addition, while she’s living in the hotel, she has access to the 24/7 options offered by the cafeteria at NBC Sports headquarters.
Tomlinson put in plenty of work even before the internship started, learning all she could about biathlon and meeting with competitors from Team USA and full-time members of the production team to prepare for their work during the Olympics.
At the same time, Tomlinson remains involved as an executive with 46 Live, the group that produces the livestream of the Penn State Dance Marathon, and as director of marketing for TEDxPSU. In addition, when she returns to campus, she’ll return to work with Penn State Athletics as an audio/visual production assistant, and with CommAgency, the student-driven agency housed in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications that produces video, streaming services, social media and more for partners across the University.
She’s busy, and that’s part of the reason Tomlinson values the time when she can rest — even if it’s “Beijing time” for another week or so.