Kevin Lam '20 is a graduate student at University College London (UCL), earning his Masters of Public Administration (MPA) in digital technologies and policy. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lam’s master’s dissertation focuses on remote work and the future of workplace wellbeing. At CALS, Lam majored in communications and earned dual minors in information science and LGBTQ studies. As an undergraduate, Lam completed internships with ABC News in London and with Spectrum News NY1, in New York City. He also received a scholarship from the Cornell Club of Hong Kong in support of his undergraduate research experience.
Here, he shares how his time in CALS shaped his thinking and provided unique opportunities that fueled his career ambitions.
How did your Cornell CALS experience prepare you to work in media?
I’m very interested in storytelling because stories influence people: they have the power to change people’s minds and broaden their perspectives. At Cornell, I got good theoretical knowledge from the classroom, but I also wanted experience in the field, because journalism is a very hands-on job. My junior year, I studied abroad in London and did an internship with ABC News, thanks to an alumni connection through Ariella Weintraub '12, a communication alum.
When I finished my internship with ABC, I came back to New York and started an internship with Spectrum News NY1, a 24-hour local cable channel. There I really became a news producer. I was working on a noon show, live, and it was very, very rushed — it's New York City. We had to get everything right, and quick: talking to correspondents, getting live shots, going out to gather information that’s changing as we report it. One of the biggest stories that I contributed to covering was a helicopter crash landing in midtown Manhattan. Information and sources coming into the newsroom were scattered and unchecked. You could imagine how low everybody's heart dropped when you put "plane, NYC and crash" together. And it was our job as journalists to verify and re-verify everything before the viewers see it.
