NBC News, Snapchat transport young alumna to South Korea for Olympic Winter Games

Many SUNY New Paltz alumni remember their first business trip as young professionals, but few can relate to the intense travel and unparalleled opportunity that led Casey Silvestri ’17 (Journalism) to South Korea for the 2018 Olympic Winter games this February. 

“It was my first chance to travel for work and my third time on an airplane so you can imagine how excited I was to go,” said Silvestri, production assistant for Stay Tuned, a Snapchat show produced by NBC News. “Although I worked every day, I did get to see some events like snowboarding and bobsledding. The trip lasted from February 2 through February 26, which was just enough time to immerse myself in the Winter Games and the beauty of South Korea.”

Silvestri was brought on this once-in-a-lifetime journey to work for NBC News at the IBC (International Broadcast Center) in PyeongChang, where she researched athletes, cut competition footage and prepared Snapchat segments for air. She also helped coordinate and film interviews with over a dozen athletes like Shaun White, Chloe Kim, Adam Rippon and more. When she wasn’t at the IBC, Silvestri was assisting on shoots in the field for different segments on South Korean technology and culture.

Silvestri recognizes her journalism and Honors classes at the College for bringing her research and writing skills to the level necessary for her current profession, where she says it’s all about telling a good story.

“My professors were incredible mentors who encouraged me to take on the internships at NBC News that eventually lead to my current job,” said Silvestri. “They always pushed me to do my best and to embrace learning things inside and outside of the classroom. And as someone who didn’t know a lot about sports before the Olympics, I surely learned a lot over the past month. I’m already counting down the days until Tokyo 2020.”

Silvestri began as an intern for NBC News two years ago and now works full time to bring the network’s voice to social networking platform, Snapchat. NBC News was the first daily news show on the app when it launched last summer and the network now has more than 25 million unique monthly viewers.

“Most of our audience is under the age of 25, and so I’m always asking myself, ‘How would I explain this news story to a friend of mine?’” said Silvestri. “I feel so lucky to have a job that is always challenging me to pitch and write news stories that could impact my generation. It almost seems unfair to call it a ‘job’ because that’s how much I love what I do.”

Silvestri’s self-produced video segment about what it was like working for the 2018 Olympic Winter games previously aired on NBC’s Stay Tuned.