Two UHart students get rare chance to be part of Olympics TV coverage
“Be someone!” is a time-honored axiom that college students are used to hearing as they look toward their post-collegiate careers. But in a perfectly routine and even motivational twist on the old chestnut, two students were recently told to “Shadow someone!” instead.
One educator at the University of Hartford, Susan Cardillo, associate professor of digital media and journalism in the College of Arts and Sciences, could not be happier about that. One current and one former student won a highly competitive process to secure NBC Sports internships this past summer to work on televised coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Shadowing—closely watching and listening to professionals as they go about their work and assisting them whenever they ask for help—is often an intern’s most valuable tool for future success. One of Cardillo’s central goals is to help secure internships for young women interested in sports broadcasting careers (see sidebar on p. 33), and for her, this summer was a slam dunk. Albani Hunt ’24, who double- majored in digital media & journalism and computer science, and Taylor DePaolo-Daily ’26, who is also studying digital media and journalism, interned at the NBC Sports studio in Stamford, Connecticut, during the Olympic Games in Paris this past summer.
“Albani and Taylor are extremely hard-working women who are not afraid to take charge and do whatever it takes to get the job done,” says Cardillo, who is exceedingly proud of both—and the strides being made to open more doors for women in the field.
“This internship has definitely been a game-changer for me,” says Hunt, whose on-campus experience was already extensive, having worked for three years with UHart’s mobile sports production studio for STN-2, the student television network that broadcasts many Hartford Hawks games in a variety of sports. She is certain that experience—which included two years as a senior producer—was a contributing factor to her selection by NBC Sports.
“The most challenging part was getting through the first few days,” Hunt recalls. “I spent a lot of time just trying to calm my own nerves as I attempted to acclimate to the environment. Before this internship, I had never worked at a facility as large as NBC Sports. Luckily, I found myself getting comfortable pretty quickly, probably because I was surrounded by such an amazing group of people. That helped a lot.”
For DePaolo-Daily, the game change came from the realization that her love of storytelling was finally going to be put to the test by interning with NBC professionals in crafting stories to tell about the Olympic Games and athletes to a worldwide audience. “Even when I was young, I believed that my skills would be more useful behind the scenes,” she relates. “In high school, I made highlight reels for the school’s robotics team, and as a freelancer for Yale University, I do some technical direction and graphic operations for games that are broadcast on ESPN.”
As part of her internship, DePaolo-Daily served as a graphics maintenance engineer supporting all production technicians in the control and server room, and also helped assure that NBC Sports experienced no problems with global streaming function.
Taylor DePaolo-Daily ’26, Digital MediaI worked with so many NBC professionals.
“I worked with so many NBC professionals,” she explains. “By the end of the internship, I had worked with every single member of the engineering department. That included a UHart graduate named Colin Whitehill ’21, and that was very nice because he was a familiar face who was able to introduce me to everyone there.”
Hunt came away from the internship with practical experience in dozens of responsibilities she may be called upon to perform one day. “My favorite part was being in the control rooms as events were happening in Paris and getting a unique behind-the-scenes perspective of what goes on,” she adds. “It gave me a feel for the reality of an Olympic broadcast. I shadowed assistant directors and producers. I sat in on what’s called clip cutting, graphic generation, electronic video systems operation, and much more. The opportunity was beyond what I could have imagined.”
The internships were not without their challenges, some having more to do with adjusting to Paris time than with anything technical. But even challenges like that were easily surmountable, particularly whenever Hunt and DePaolo-Daily took a moment to realize the exclusivity of what they were doing, and the fact that in some ways they were now trailblazers, given how few sports broadcasting internships had been given to women over the last few decades.
Both UHart NBC Olympics interns say that for every challenge they faced, there was a thrill, such as working with such highly accomplished broadcast professionals from NBC Sports, NBC headquarters in New York City, veteran freelancers, and many others.
Hunt and DePaolo-Daily credit the help and guidance they received from Cardillo during the internship application process for their NBC Sports successes. “She truly cares about assisting students and preparing them for their careers,” Hunt says. “She is unwavering in her support once you prove yourself to be a dedicated student. She has been a huge advocate for me, not just in acquiring the internship, but in other career opportunities in TV production. By the end of my sophomore year, I knew that is what I wanted to pursue.”
DePaolo-Daily says she would love to do some sports documentary work, and perhaps become a TV editor. With a spirited grin, she adds, “Did I hear someone say Milan?” That’s where the Olympics will be held in winter 2026. It’s a spirit shared by Hunt, who also artfully whispers, “How amazing would it be to work on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics?”
That prospect only adds to the excitement of imagining what the next few years will have in store for them, professionally speaking. “There’s a lot I want to accomplish,” Hunt says confidently.
If these well-deserved internships are any indication, Hunt and DePaolo-Daily may very well have some college students shadowing them one day.