JOY BLOG

1 Dec 2023

Diary of a Work Experience Student: Alex

JOY has been pleased to have Alex join us as our work experience student this week in the leadup to JOY’s 30th anniversary. Alex has thrown herself into production behind the scenes at JOY, working towards her long term goal of becoming a film director. Today, on her last day in the office, she shares her memories of the week.

Hii! I’m Alex, I’m fifteen years old, and I have had the absolute joy of experiencing the behind the scenes of JOY for the past week. At my school, year 10 students are told to find a work experience placement that interests them and relates to their future career, so that’s exactly what I did! I managed to secure a week of work experience at JOY, which was such an amazing experience!!

On my first day walking in I was really nervous walking into the studio, then I was immediately welcomed into the studio by the most lovely team of people. Everyone that I have talked to, learnt from, and generally followed around this week, has been so awesome and creative. I have learnt a lot about everyone’s unique roles that combine together to create the amazing JOY radio station, and even tried out some of their cool jobs. I had accidentally chosen a really special week, with the AGM on Monday and JOY’s 30th Anniversary on Friday. I loved my week at JOY!

I spent my first day at JOY learning about all the tech that goes together to make sure that an AGM runs smoothly. I was particularly interested in the technological and production side of JOY because I want to become a film director when I’m older, so learning about the different cameras and microphones was perfect. I was able to help solve any problems that came up both logically and creatively, I felt grown up.

On the second day I got to sit into all of the meetings that happened in JOY that day and act like I had actually been hired and was a part of the team. It was really cool sitting in an office spinny chair, in a proper meeting. As silly as that sounds, I felt like I actually had a job. The meetings were actually super interesting because I got to see what a typical week for them was like and see behind the scenes secrets.

My third day just might have been my favourite (don’t tell the others) because I got to record, edit, and produce my very own membership recognition spot for broadcast. If you’re an avid JOY listener you just might hear me, talking about Kids Under Cover!! How cool is that?? I was really proud of all my work on Wednesday and now I’m considering a career in production!

Alex behind the mic in the JOY studio.

Thursday was awesome. I thought that I would just be observing the JOY Breakfast show but instead I was actually on live radio! The moment I found out I was frantically texting all my friends and family “I’M LIVE RIGHT NOW.” My best friend was at school and she sent me a video of all her friends cheering when I was talking, even people I don’t know well! I felt like a celebrity.

My last day of JOY was just as great, it’s the 30th Anniversary of JOY! I got the opportunity to look through the archives and put together a video of JOY’s history. It was so cool seeing how the queer community has grown, and I feel so honoured to be a part of such an awesome community.

I adored my time at JOY and hope to come back in the future with my very own radio show!! Stay tuned!!