Made in the editing room: Grace Stensland Ĵý23
Made in the editing room: Grace Stensland Ĵý23
Class of 1981 Internship Endowment
Rob McIntyre, an Emmy award-winning supervising sound editor and sound designer, and Grace Stensland Ĵý23 in Gavett HallĴýs recording studio.
Grace Stensland Ĵý23, a Syracuse, New York, native, grew up loving movies, photography, and Broadway shows. When it came time to choose a college, she was drawn to Rochester for its open curriculum, which she knew would give her many opportunities to explore her broad interests. Working as an intern in the summer of 2022 helped her hone those interests, too, and find her nicheĴýan experience made possible by the Class of 1981 Internship Endowment.
Stensland found her internship by tapping into her network, which she learned how to do at her work-study job at the . ĴýWorking at the Greene Center during my sophomore and junior years gave me insight into the importance of networking, interviewing, and professional communication,Ĵý she says. ĴýSo, when it came time for me to look for an internship, I reached out to my audio engineering professor, Stephen Roessner. I knew he had a friend in Los Angeles who worked in the entertainment business, and I asked him to connect me, which he did.Ĵý
RoessnerĴýs friend is Rob McIntyre, an Emmy Award-winning supervising sound editor who cofounded Sound Rebels, LLC, a Burbank, California-based audio post-production company that provides sound design and mixing services for animated television, movies, and reality TV. McIntyre and his business partner, D.J. Lynch, interviewed Stensland over Zoom and she aced it, securing the summer-long internship.
The internship was a great fit. Every day, she worked on such projects as NickelodeonĴýs Middlemost Post, a kidsĴý comedy series; Paramount+Ĵýs Big Nate, a kidĴýs series created by Nickelodeon; and NetflixĴýs Inside Job, an adult-oriented science fiction series. Her primary responsibilities included editing sound effects, creating ambient sounds, and maintaining client services.
Sound Rebels even tasked Stensland with a special project: to sound design eight minutes of an episode of Inside Job. ĴýIĴýve been a big fan of this show for a long time,Ĵý she says. ĴýIt was such a thrill to go from watching it to actually creating sound for it, especially for such a big segment within an episode.Ĵý
Toward the end of the summer, McIntyre and Lynch approached Stensland about coming on board full-time after graduation as a sound editor. ĴýI loved every minute of my internship, so being offered a full-time job left me speechless,Ĵý she says. ĴýI did manage to say yes, though, and I canĴýt wait to start working there full-time.Ĵý
Stensland adds, ĴýEven though many internships pay an hourly rate, itĴýs often not enough to cover other expenses,Ĵý she adds. ĴýThat was certainly the case for me. Los Angeles is expensive, and I never would have been able to afford housing and food without the assistance of the Class of 1981 Internship Endowment.Ĵý
This experience led to my dream job right out of the gate, which is incredibly rare for people graduating and hoping to work in film and television. The funding support I received gave me a head start on my career, and I couldnĴýt be more grateful.Ĵý
Internships are vital experiences that give young people a head start in their careers. Too often, though, internships donĴýt pay enough for students to cover their cost-of-living expenses. I established this fund to help close that gap for them. I named it for the Class of 1981 because I wanted to set an example for other class years, to encourage them to create similar funds and make a difference in young lives.Ĵý ĴýTony Graham Ĵý81
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Ĵý Kristine Kappel Thompson, March 2023