The following press release is from Rutgers University–New Brunswick:
Kate Beemer is an adventurous soul who has embarked on an unconventional college journey.
A senior at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who is majoring in journalism and media studies, Beemer spent much of her summer melding her passions – music, improving her German and studying abroad – with an internship at Germany’s version of MTV in Berlin.
Beemer, who spent part of her sophomore year hosting a music show on Rutgers Radio (WRSU 88.7 FM), worked as a music programming intern with the talent and music management department of Music Television Germany, a television channel better known as MTV Germany that is operated by Paramount Global.
The Maplewood, N.J., resident [and Columbia High School graduate] said her daily tasks included compiling and updating information with top albums and singles, adding that “every day of the week, there’s a new information release. I had to update the charts based on when it comes out.”
“It’s honestly been an amazing experience,” said Beemer, who started the internship in May and completed it in mid-July. “I mean, No. 1, it’s all in German, so that’s been a big challenge for me.”
Beemer, who spent her junior year studying German and journalism at the Freie Universität Berlin (the Free University of Berlin), said being in a professional environment “where everyone speaks German” proved a meaningful way to sharpen her language skills.
“I’m having to constantly make sure I’m working on my German – and not just in a casual way,” said Beemer, who remained in Berlin after finishing her junior year to complete the internship and returns to the Rutgers School of Communication and Information in the fall.
A transfer student from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Beemer arrived at Rutgers as a sophomore with a plan: In addition to navigating the catch-up of college coursework typically involved in shifting from one university to another, she sought to study abroad for a year in Germany before completing degree in New Brunswick.
Meghan Ingstrup, the assistant dean for undergraduate student services at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information, has helped transform Beemer’s plan into reality.
As Beemer’s adviser, Ingstrup noted how the transfer student was on a mission to fold her higher education experience with studying abroad.
“She’s like, ‘Listen, I really want to do journalism and media studies, and I know that’s going to require some coursework, but I also have this plan, as a dual citizen of the United States and Germany, to spend a year studying abroad,’” Ingstrup said. “And that’s awfully ambitious as a transfer student who still wants to stay on track for timely graduation.”
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” Ingstrup added. “We put together a plan. We’re like, ‘Let’s see if we can make this happen.’ And she’s so committed to having this experience.”
Squeezing the MTV internship into that plan was icing on the German cake.
Beemer, who is pursuing a minor both in German and gender and media studies, said the opportunity was “a bit of a special situation,” explaining that internships in Germany are typically a longer-term commitment.
Ingstrup recalled when Beemer asked her how she could take on the internship and how it would impact her ability to graduate in four years.
“We looked at everything,” said Ingstrup, adding that timely degree completion is a critical mission of the university. “We found a way to allow her to use this internship experience as credit for her major at Rutgers.”
Ingstrup added: “We’ve done a lot of work together consistently throughout each semester for the last year and a half, ensuring that she can stay on track to timely degree completion, even with her plans to have a journalism media studies major, to have a German minor, to have a gender and media studies minor and to fit in this experience.”
Beemer, whose mother grew up in Germany and moved to the United States as a teenager, said she finds comfort in the German language.
“I grew up hearing it around the house,” said Beemer, adding she could speak German “much better” when she was younger and “kind of lost it – and then I decided that it was going to be a goal for me to pick it back up and travel here.”
“I think that it gets a bad rep,” Beemer said. “I feel like a lot of people think German is a very harsh language, but I think it’s just how German people are. It’s a pretty practical language.”
Kate Beemer and her mom Ruth Kalbitzer at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.
Beemer, who over the next year plans to apply to master’s programs in Berlin (the focus would be media studies and “also hopefully something that can pertain to music”), said she transferred to Rutgers–New Brunswick for the study abroad opportunities.
“Rutgers pretty much checked off every box for me in that sense,” she said. “Everyone I spoke to when I was trying to figure out if I should transfer or not was super, super helpful and super accommodating. And I realized not only that Rutgers has the things I’m interested in, but just how much there is at Rutgers to explore different options. It was just overall the most practical decision and the best possible way for me to pursue what my goals were at the time.”
“She’s so committed to having this experience,” said Ingstrup, adding that “our Rutgers students are really lucky that these experiences exist for them. There are folks who can talk them through how you can make this happen.”
