INTERNSHIP CHECK-IN: Harrison Smajovits, Cortland Crush Producer and Analyst Intern

Internship Summary

Harrison Smajovits is a rising junior Journalism Sports and Media major in the College of Journalism and Communications at UF and is from Largo FL. Harrison is interning with the Cortland Crush baseball team in New York. He has the responsibilities of producing the game broadcast and making sure it runs smoothly. He also is the color commentator sideline reporter for postgame.

Internship Highlights

Smajovits says that being in the broadcast booth to see the Crush go to the championship for the first time has been the highlight of the summer

Smajovits also says that this internship is preparing him for his future aspirations. “I’ve now (fine)tuned different skills used in a broadcast. Before I was mainly good at play-by-play with some production experience but now I’ve done a whole season of producing, color commentating, and postgame interviews. I now have a more balanced set of skills that will benefit me in my future career.”

But there have been challenges along the way. “I would be color commentating but something happened from a producer standpoint where I had to stop and work on that while trying to still get my parts of the broadcast in.”

Smajovits has truly enjoyed his experience this summer. “The fact that I was one of the voices of a baseball team and another great part was that the players felt we helped make the season as great as it was.” Smajovits adds that CJC has played a pivotal role in helping him along the way. “My UF experience opened the doors to the opportunities I’ve had thus far. The skills I learned at UF allowed (me)to take on a bigger role with a baseball team and further perfect skills and learn new ones as well.

“One thing I’ve learned is how valuable it is to be a student in the CJC. The reputation is so top-notch that you will get looked at and you will have all the skill sets you need to prove that you were the right pick for the job.”

One final word of advice from Smajovits, “Get involved immediately! Knock on doors, get your name in, be shameless about being heard, and take every opportunity you can get. It’s cheesy, but don’t be afraid to jump off the deep end. Take an opportunity and try to figure out how to make it work. It will only make you better and you won’t miss out.”