Student Accolade - Jenny Ebbeling

Last fall, senior Jenny Ebbeling spent the semester in New York City working as an intern with ABC's "Good Morning America" - and simultaneously earning 12 hours of credit from Baylor. As a student in the first class of the Baylor in New York program, part of the communication studies department, she spent five days a week juggling her full-time internship with academic requirements and life in the Big Apple.
She usually worked a 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. day at the studio, handling responsibilities that included sorting through the mail of the senior producer she assisted, making initial-contact phone calls, following up on assigned stories and taking notes at meetings.
"I loved my internship because I learned so much from being there," she says. From her supervisor, she learned "how to balance work and family and how to pick stories and make sure they're great on the air. There is so much that goes into three minutes of live television." Lisa Sharkey, Ebbeling's supervisor at "GMA," says she "was dedicated, devoted to hard work and takes her job very seriously but also enjoys it tremendously."
Ebbeling came to Baylor from San Diego on a National Merit Scholarship after earning a perfect 800 SAT verbal score. At the University, she has held leadership positions in several organizations including Kappa Alpha Theta, Alpha Chi Honor Society and Italian and Spanish clubs - all while maintaining a 3.98 GPA. How does she juggle everything? "It's called six hours of sleep a night - studying till 2 a.m. and waking up at 8 a.m.," she says. Finding the perfect balance is really hard. The world tells you to 'Do more!' but I'm trying to learn to trust God - that he'll make sure I do what is important for the future. And, that it's OK to sleep!"
Finding that balance last semester was a challenge, she says. "That's how it's going to be my whole life. As you get promoted in this industry, you only get more responsibility and put in more hours, so I'd better get used to it now. I just end each day with a little prayer to God asking him to multiply my sleep - and a thank you for the best experience of my life."