SCU media student a golden addition to Olympic broadcast

Southern Cross University media student Emily Page has a talent for making people laugh.

That’s why the 21-year-old Lismore student believes she has been chosen for a prestigious training program with the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games host television broadcaster, NEP Australia.

NEP has connected with universities for the Host Broadcast training program, which first-up has eight students, including Emily, working as part of the Seven Network’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games coverage at NEP’s studio complex in Sydney this month.

This integrated learning approach is a unique opportunity for these students to be part of a live multi-sport international broadcast experience which they can use for potential work during the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

“Most of the students they have chosen are in their final year and set to graduate in the next six months, so this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us,” Emily said.

“Our first meeting in June was really good, even though I felt like a fish out of water. Some of the students were very serious about the whole thing but I think I’ll be able to crack jokes and bring it down to an earthly level for everyone regardless of what university we go to.

“I was told that’s what the selection panel saw in me – they think it’s important to have someone to level the mood in what could be a very intense work environment.”

Emily travelled to Sydney on July 31 and will work through until August 22. She said the majority of the work in the studios would be logging footage received from Rio, which is filmed in a non-biased way, then distributing it to the required countries, particularly in the Asia Pacific.

“The work environment is fast-paced and long days with 10-hour shifts each day where we go through all the content and pick the best and most usable parts and log it in case we get any requests coming in for specific athletes,” she said.

“We are doing that for 23 days around the clock as it’s an international event, working alongside 200-or-so other people.

“It’s definitely a really good opportunity for professional placement in a really intense environment.”

Emily, who is originally from Tamworth, is now in her third and final year of study for a Bachelor of Media at the Lismore campus, and had previously focused mainly on graphic design until the NEP opportunity helped her understand her screen abilities.

“It was a bit of a shock to get the nomination but I was thrilled when I got the call to say I was successful,” she said.

“In the future I would love to merge my screen-based skills with graphic design, and working with Channel 7 this year during the Olympics I will definitely be talking with producers and sports editors to let them know I could work on future projects.

“I am hoping to find a job in the field which will take me overseas.”
Emily described the experience as an NEP training camp ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“It’s a two-job thing, the Olympics Games is the training and by the time the Commonwealth Games is here we will more adept at running things ourselves,” she said.

NEP Australia President Soames Treffry said that during the lead up to and during the Commonwealth Games, the training program will include work experience opportunities for 200 Queensland students, including SCU students, who will work alongside some of Australia’s leading broadcast professionals.

“This will provide students with invaluable broadcast industry experience for their future careers in television,” he said.

Shelley Watts, an SCU law and human movement science student, will be fighting for Olympic boxing gold in Rio when she steps into the ring on Saturday (August 13).

Shelley made history two years ago when she became the first female boxer to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She is just the second Australian female boxer to compete at the Olympics.

Photo caption: SCU media student Emily Page. Photographer: John Waddell