Hodgdon’s Nesbitt lands CBS gig

Photo courtesy Robert Nesbitt
MIC’ING UP — Robert Nesbitt gets his mic ready before anchoring the student run newscast NESCom Connection.
By Doug Dickinson
Staff Writer
    BANGOR — Hodgdon High graduate in 2007 and New England School for Communications student Robert Nesbitt has secured a summer internship at “CBS Evening News Weekend Edition.” Nesbitt has been studying broadcast journalism at NESCom for the last three years.
    Nesbitt was born in Houlton and grew up in Hodgdon, where he was raised by his parents Malcolm and Tonya Nesbitt. At an early age he got into horses, something that he claims taught him responsibility. When he was 11 years old his parents got him his own horse and he showed all across New England and Atlantic Canada.
    Nesbitt said he’s the person he is due to growing up in the Houlton area.
    “I feel that a lot of who I am is from there. You really get grounded. You become a hard worker by understanding the value of working hard,” he said.
    When Nesbitt first decided to go to college he went to the University of Maine with a major in architecture. After finishing one semester he realized it wasn’t something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Robert began re-planning and decided to pursue a career in journalism.
    Nesbitt transferred to NESCom in Bangor in the fall of 2008. He has loved journalism ever since. Upon graduating in December he will have a bachelor degree in communications with a concentration in broadcast journalism.
    Journalism was always something that fascinated Nesbitt. He said that when he was younger his family always watched “The Today Show” with Matt Lauer and Katie Couric, and after dinner each night they would watch the “CBS Evening News” with Dan Rather. Today Nesbitt is a professed news junkie, watching local and national news every night, and keeping up with the Associated Press and “60 Minutes” online.
    “I love finding out information. That’s really why I decided to take the field. I love the idea of telling people stories. Something you can really learn from. Not just a quick ‘this is what happened’ but you get the full aspect. You get several different perspectives, quotes and interviews. You come away with a true understanding,” said Nesbitt.
    Nesbitt began looking into an internship at CBS on his own. After talking to a friend who had done her internship at a television station in Cincinnati, he started to consider what would make his resume look good.
    “CBS got me into news in the first place, watching it with my family and still watching it today faithfully. I decided to go on their website and see if they had opportunities for internships and it was really easy to find,” Nesbitt said.
    When applying for a CBS internship, Nesbitt had the thought of “go big or go home.”
    “A lot of people ask me ‘how did you do it, how is that possible?’ It was really just an application away,” Nesbitt says. “If you put your time and effort into your education and immersing yourself into all the possibilities that your college or your area provides for you … why not go for something that’s bigger? I didn’t want to not do it and say ‘what if’ for a while. So I decided if they don’t accept me then they don’t accept me. At least I tried.”
    Nesbitt started the application process last October. He filled out his application and got together his resume, cover letter, letter of credit and two letters of recommendation from his teachers. By January he had everything ready to submit.
    Robert’s family had been involved from the time that he first applied for the internship. They were the first people he told when he began the process and he kept them informed on a daily basis.
    [My family is] very happy for me and they’re probably the most supportive people in my life when it comes to whatever goals I set for myself,” said Robert. “But I don’t think they were surprised that it was something I wanted to do. I think they were ecstatic and happy that I got it and they wanted to tell everybody and let everybody know that their son did this and that.”
    Robert said that he has always wanted to work at CBS and a lot of people have been asking him if it’s possible that he’ll get a job when he is done the internship.
    “You have to have a lot of job experience under your belt and I know that. This is just an opportunity to be in the environment of the best of the best. I want to learn from people like Scott Kelly and Katie Couric and reporters who have been doing it a long time,” he said.
    Nesbitt added that while his end goal is to get a job at CBS someday, for now he would be happy to work with any news network.
    Mark Kelley is the director of journalism at NESCom. He said that they are proud of Nesbitt for landing such a prestigious internship.
    “Robert has worked very hard in the journalism program. The fact that CBS News selected him over hundreds of other applicants tells me they respected the knowledge and skills that he demonstrated to them both in samples of his work and in the interview process,” said Kelley.
    “I think it reflects well on the quality of our journalism program that a national TV news organization has selected one of our students for this tremendous experience.”
    According to Kelley, Robert is “a hard-driving student who has grown tremendously as a journalist” through NESCom’s program.
    “He’s ready for this next step. I know that he will absorb everything he can as he works alongside professional journalists at the national level.”
     Robert is the first NESCom student to land an internship with CBS News. His internship will run from June 6 to Aug. 12 at CBS world headquarters on West 52nd Street in New York City.