Caitlin, Alumni
Former School of The New York Times student Caitlin McCormack is a 22-year-old Reporter from Wilton, Connecticut. After attending Summer Academy in 2019, Catilin studied at the University of Richmond where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She currently works as a General Assignment Reporter at the New York Post.
Which year did you study at Summer Academy? Which course did you take and why?
I studied at The School of The New York Times in the summer of 2019. Visiting The New York Times and working alongside many student-journalists from high schools across the country changed my trajectory and helped me determine what kind of writing I wanted to do.
What was the most valuable lesson you took away from your Summer Academy experience?
The most valuable lesson I took away from The School of The New York Times is not to put all your eggs in one basket so early in your career. I was, admittedly, a stick in the mud about carving out a career centered around writing in some capacity. Learning more about the television industry through my course helped me recognize the variety of opportunities available in the industry. Summer Academy gave me the tools to branch out and helped me realize there were other spaces for me in the writing world.
How did Summer Academy impact your educational and career trajectory?
It paved the way for the extensive self-reflecting I’d wind up doing over the Coronavirus lockdown in 2020, just seven months after my term wrapped. I was a high schooler frantically trying to find a place to take the ACT, as centers were being shut down left and right, and I had no idea what to do with myself. So, I spent much of lockdown familiarizing myself with writing for publication. I still had no idea if I wanted to do journalism in the long run at the time, but it was still part of the seed that Summer Academy planted.
Tell us about how your career began. What did you do before this role and what does your day-to-day look like now?
I interned for the New York Post in its news section during the summer of 2024. I admittedly spent very little time in the newsroom, since much of the internship focused on sending interns out into New York City to experience the stories for ourselves. It was trial by fire, but in the best way possible. I helped cover everything from the Cricket World Cup to the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, all in just two months. I was hired to work part-time while I was back at the University of Richmond finishing my senior year and started working full-time after graduating. I work on the night desk, so a lot of my day-to-day includes covering anything missed on dayside and a lot of late-day breaking news, like the shooting at the NFL Headquarters on Park Avenue in July.
What advice would you give to a student that is attending Summer Academy for the first time?
Advice I’d offer to incoming Summer Academy students would be to explore as much of the city as you can. Don’t freak out if you get lost on the subway, you’ll find your way back. And if you don’t, there are plenty of taxis and ride shares available. One of the best parts of a program like Summer Academy is that you are, largely, free to just be for maybe the first time in your life. How you spend any given day is dictated by you, not your guardians. So, don’t hole up in your dorm (as nice as they are), just walk around even if you don’t know where you’re going. Sometimes, that’s how you find the best stories!