Although he is still at the beginning of his career, Javier Giribet-Vargas has credits on his résumé that would make some veteran journalists jealous.
Giribet-Vargas recently completed an internship at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., an opportunity he earned after working at Dallas’ NBC5 and Telemundo 39 while in college and as a freelance writer for Al Dia, a Spanish-language newspaper owned by the Dallas Morning News. The D.C. internship came after a stint as a reporting intern for local public radio station KERA, during which he reported from the scene about the July 2016 Dallas police shootings.
Much like his internship with KERA, the Washington internship allowed him to do research, pitch stories and book guests, in this case for a nationally-syndicated show, “Weekend All Things Considered with Michel Martin.”
“It was a dream come true,” said Giribet-Vargas. “It is something I set my mind to and I worked for it tirelessly until I was able to achieve that.”
Giribet-Vargas says he didn’t know what career he would pursue when he started college and took everything he could – social psychology, history, theatre – before an Introduction to Mass Communication class changed his life. A guest speaker, Professor Ceilidh Charleson-Jennings, impressed him so much that he decided to look at communications – particularly television and radio journalism – as a potential career. Print journalism came later as he worked for Al Dia and The University of Texas at Arlington’s student newspaper, The Shorthorn.
He said his communication courses at Collin challenged him and inspired his love for communications. That foundation has served as a basis for his rising career.
“The thing I got from Collin was a passion for media and communications,” Giribet-Vargas said. “Professor Charleson-Jennings’ classes are, to date, the best classes I have taken. I developed a passion there to do what I do now.”