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S P E C TAT O R
VOLUME 96 NUMBER 5
1500 WEST KENNEDY ROAD, LAKE FOREST, IL 60045
Featured Stories NEWS
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MARCH 9, 2018
From Academy Drive to Sesame Street By Shreya Singhvi Editor-in-Chief
dent, and eager to do more,” she noted. According to Franks, her affinity for TV shows grew large-
Injustice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
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NEWS
Sra. Balson’s husband knighted by the French government
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OP-ED
Caxy Rave: Why we love GYLI page 4 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Global Grub takes on American food page 10
SPORTS
After years of watching it daily on television, imagine finally making a trip to Sesame Street and meeting Big Bird, Elmo, Snuffleupagus, and the Cookie Monster in person! Matti Franks ‘14 is a Lake Forest Academy alum did just that while working as a Sesame Street Production Intern at the Children’s Television Workshop in New York City. While attending New York University, she applied for the job online through Sesame Workshop’s career page. After being interviewed, she was hired to work for five days a week, and took evening classes in order to complete her course requirements for college. During her internship, Sesame Workshop was in pre-production for its 49th season. She assisted with research and preparation for the season, completed production runs, and created content for their YouTube channel. Franks was able to sit in during production meetings and table reads, and stated that “hearing Elmo’s voice in person for the first time was amazing.” Once the actual production of the show had begun, her duties shifted a bit. She was on set every day of production of season 49, assisting with casting talent, creating sets and props with the Art Department, helping producers on shoots for digital content, and was involved in endless other tasks that supported production each day. “One particularly rewarding part of my job was welcoming and spending the day with ill children benefiting from the Make-A-Wish foundation. I would introduce the families to the Muppets, show them around set, and try to give them a happy day,” Franks stated. Franks finished her internship and graduated from NYU in December of 2017. She interviewed for and was selected as an East Coast Page for the NBCUniversal Page Program. It is a 12-month rotational program starting at the end of February, in which she’ll get hands-on experience throughout NBCUniversal. At LFA, Franks was very involved with stage crew and worked on it for four years. “My stage crew experience at LFA helped me become comfortable, confi-
ly because of Mr. Matt Vaughn and her fellow boarders. Franks combined her shared interest of television and stage crew to pursue a ca-
Matti Franks ‘14 poses with Sesame Street character Snuffleupagus.
reer in Television Business & Production. “Mr. Koenig was really great about encouraging me to take on new responsibilities and gain confidence working in the theater. That was certainly most helpful for me in terms of figuring out what I wanted to do with my career and finding my place at LFA,” she said.
Boys tennis and new head coach prep for the most important season in years page 12 The Sesame Street Corporation gifted this sign to Matti for her work.
Photo courtesy of Matti Franks
Photo courtesy of Matti Franks
She explained that while although it was quite difficult to manage the hours—eight per day for interns, 12 per day for staff— the overall experience was very rewarding because of the welcoming community. Much of the staff have stayed with the Sesame Street production company for their whole lives because of their “love [of] the work and the people.” She said that one of the cameramen had been working there since the first-ever episode of the show. Franks articulated that she missed the Lake Forest Academy community, especially the boarding community and the fact that faculty families live on campus. One of her favorite memories from her internship was getting Lin Manuel Miranda a cheeseburger!