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When PCC student Alejandro Naranjo walked into the offices of Fox News Channel, the confident expression on his face masked the adrenaline running through his body.As he sat down for his internship interview, Naranjo was ready to take care of business.

After fielding a series of questions, the Fox News Channel supervisor, Francesca Rodriguez, lobbed a question at Naranjo with the expectation of a humble response.

“What has been your biggest achievement in life?” asked Rodriguez.

He answered, without skipping a beat, was: “My biggest achievement has been me sitting in this office for the interview and having the possibility of interning with Fox News Channel.”

A week later, Rodriguez offered Naranjo the intern position. He accepted immediately.

Naranjo, a native of the small industrial town of Valencia, Venezuela, arrived in the United States five years ago with a B.A. in business administration in his pocket.

He first moved to Houston, Texas where he attended Lone Star College-CyFair to improve his English skills, so he could begin taking college courses.

Two years later, Naranjo, 30, arrived at PCC, where his interest in broadcast journalism flourished, despite concerns about his age.

“My biggest concern was my age. I felt that I was starting out late,” said Naranjo. “I felt I was behind anyone else for job opportunities, to learn a new skill, to be creative.”

Nevertheless, Naranjo went against the odds.

Naranjo, who is currently the student president of Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) at PCC and teacher assistant for the performing and communication arts department, has gathered a myriad of certificates, which allowed him to build up his resumé.

He received the certificates of completion in writing for film, television and radio; and in post-production. Naranjo, who will be graduating from PCC with the Associate in Arts degree, also obtained the certificates of achievement in TV production and broadcast journalism.

Faculty from the performing and communication arts department are pleased with Naranjo’s accomplishments.

“All his projects reflect a lot of effort and creativity. He has not been the student who takes the assignment and does the assignment. He takes the assignment and raises the level,” said Professor Patricia Staub. “So it doesn’t surprise me that he has a competitive internship.”

Naranjo, who will start his internship in August, chose Fox News Channel over other TV networks because of the program that Fox has offered.

“What I truly like from [Fox News Channel] is that they have editorial meetings with producers and reporters, and they highly encourage interns to pitch ideas,” said Naranjo, who will be assisting producers as well.

Naranjo’s learning journey has been supported with the instruction of professors at PCC.

“All my education in regard to TV production, I would credit it to the performing and communication arts department,” he said. “They taught me what I know now and that combined with my desire to make it into the industry has allowed me to have this internship opportunity.”
In response, without skipping a beat either, instructor Barbara Naylor replies: “There is no ego about Alejandro [Naranjo]. Fox [News Channel] is lucky.

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