Brookville, N.Y. – It’s not every day that a college sophomore gets to hobnob with the likes of Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and Ellen DeGeneres. C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University student Gina Aflalo did just that on Monday, April 3, 2006 as the recipient of a $10,000 scholarship from New York Women in Communications, Inc.

Aflalo, an electronic media major from Derby, Conn., along with other scholarship winners, got a tour of the CBS studios during Monday’s live broadcast of The Early Show, then attended NYWICI’s annual Matrix Awards luncheon, which featured Sarandon, Davis, DeGeneres, Katie Couric, Bill Moyers, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey S. Immelt, among others.

Aflalo found the experience enlightening. “I’ve been to little places before but when you get to the big time networks, it’s so different, it’s on such a bigger scale,” she said.

Then again, the visit to CBS was hardly Aflalo’s first time in the TV studio. She is the president and station manager of Post TV and produces and directs its live talk show. With assistance from C.W. Post’s award-winning Cooperative Education program, she landed an internship at Atlantic Video in New York City, which does video production work for clients including ESPN, and continues to perform freelance work for the company. Currently, she has an internship at Telecare, the station of the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

“I really wanted to jump right in and see what it’s like in a real business,” she said. “I wanted to get as many internships as I could.”

Posted: April 7, 2006