As a production assistant at CNN headquarters in 纽约 City, Maddie Garcia ’17 is used to bumping into famous journalists on the elevator – Anderson Cooper, 克里斯蒂安·阿曼普尔, Chris Cuomo are a few examples – but nothing compares to the experience of being in the White House press briefing room and witnessing the famously testy exchange between CNN’s Jim Acosta and presidential advisor Stephen Miller over immigration.  Garcia recalls, “You could feel the intensity in the room and could hear a pin drop.”  为 an aspiring journalist, though, it was also a teachable moment.  “I learned that you have to ask the hard questions and that you should brace yourself because you never know what you’re going to get.” 

在斯塔顿岛长大, 加西亚想离开家去上大学, 但不会太远, and she knew she didn’t want a city campus.  玛丽斯特大学是她参观的第一所大学, and she was “blown away” by the beauty of the campus and the friendliness of the tour guide.  她说, “It just felt like home when I got there.”  Garcia always had an interest in politics, but she was initially undecided about a major until she took a class with Associate Professor of Political 科学 JoAnne Myers.  “这门课真的很挑战我.  I liked writing the papers, and I enjoyed the debates,” she recalls.  So Garcia declared a political science major with a minor in communication.  增加了加西亚, “The political science major isn’t that big, so I really appreciated the small class size.  在讨论中我不会感到害怕, and this gave me increased confidence later on in interviews and in the workplace.”

Says Garcia, “Marist doesn’t leave you to your own devices.  If you put in the work, and reach out to faculty members, they’re happy to help you.例如:, Assistant Professor of 沟通/Journalism Kevin Lerner, 前记者, 为她的实习提供建议.  另一位教授, Associate Professor of Political 科学 Jessica Boscarino, knew Garcia was interested in policy and advocacy work, so she helped her obtain work as a public policy intern at Scenic Hudson in Poughkeepsie.  Garcia also completed internships with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign (she worked in the briefing and correspondence unit) and at U.S. Senator Charles Schumer’s Hudson Valley office answering constituent calls and doing policy research. 

A key step for Garcia was starting work at the whatever, and she gives her mother all the credit.  As she tells it, “She literally forced me!  I didn’t really know much about the whatever, but my mom did, and I needed a work-study job.  It turned out to be one of my best decisions.”  She worked as a polling coach and media assistant and developed a keen sense of the issues important to the public.  根据加西亚的说法, the relationships she built with Director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion (MIPO) Lee Miringoff, Director of the whatever Barbara Carvalho, and MIPO Director of Media Initiatives and Polling 新闻 Mary Griffith were instrumental in her growth.  事实上, 大四的时候, Miringoff’s connections resulted in Garcia’s summer internship with National Public Radio (NPR).  The day after Marist graduation, she moved to Washington, DC.  “I’ll be forever grateful to the MIPO team,” she says.

As an intern at NPR’s Washington Desk, Garcia was right in the thick of things.  与政治播客合作, she was there when US Representative Steve Scalise was shot at a baseball practice and when protests turned violent in Charlottesville, 维吉尼亚州, 她帮助报道了这些故事.  她没有被吓倒.  Says Garcia, “At Marist, you learn to appreciate competition, and I knew I could really step up.”  She is also grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from NPR’s high-caliber brand of journalism.  “The journalism there is not superficial.  People really take the time to examine issues in depth, and that was an extraordinary learning experience.” 

加西亚的NPR实习结束后, she landed back in 纽约 working for CNN in the documentary unit.  在她目前的职位上, she assists in the production of the documentary series How It Really Happened and Something’s Killing Me, HLN的哪个频道.  Garcia works closely with producers to script shows, do research, and source footage and photos.  她说, “Working on a small team of four producers, I’ve been fortunate to do a lot of hands-on learning.  I’ve built strong relationships with my team members and consider them great mentors.在这条路上, Garcia would love to return to political reporting, or perhaps a combination of producing and reporting.  She’s also interested in writing for digital platforms; right now, she’s working on a story about the Staten Island Congressional election.  She notes, “In political reporting, you have to be both hungry and patient.  Eventually, I have no doubt the right opportunity will arise.”  And when it does, Garcia will be prepared.