It was an amazing surprise to Emilie Quesnel, fourth-year Trent University-Loyalist College student, when she got the call informing her that she had been selected as the Trent University recipient of the coveted 2017 CBC Radio Peter Gzowski internship.

This summer, Ms. Quesnel joins a group of students from three other universities across Canada who have been selected to work in various CBC Radio locations. As part of the internship, Ms. Quensel will receive valuable training in radio production from CBC staff while having the opportunity to get first-hand experience working in a number of facets of the industry.

It’s the thrill of a lifetime for an enthusiastic advocate of the power of radio. Since Ms. Quesnel began her studies, she said that radio was always her top interest.

“There’s something powerful about audio storytelling that actually brings the listener to the place of the story through sound and voice,” said Ms. Quesnel. “Radio gives the listener the chance to be creative, connect emotionally and be a part of the stories that television and print cannot do in the same way.”

After recently finishing another radio internship with the CBC Radio show Day 6, Ms. Quesnel is looking forward to going back for the summer to explore different areas of the radio industry that she has not had the chance to experience yet.

Going into this once-in-a-lifetime experience, Ms. Quesnel looks back at her time in the Trent-Loyalist Journalism program as a chance to grow as a storyteller.

“Through my Psychology classes at Trent, I was able to get a better, fleshed-out understanding of human behavior that gave me an empathetic and sympathetic approach to telling people’s stories,” said Ms. Quesnel. “To be able to tell stories from this understanding and sensitive perspective has helped me a great deal.”

Learn more about the Peter Gzowski Internship.