Then and Now: Clancy Burke

When Clancy Burke, Class of 2017, came to Marist College it would have been hard to predict where she would be two years post-graduation.

Burke was 14 when she created her YouTube Channel as something she thought was fun and to pass the time. “The same way people like to draw, or love to play basketball. YouTube for me. Then all of sudden I started getting a following and that's when things began to change,” Burke said.

She continuously made videos throughout high school, but for a while, she wanted to be a lawyer. However, one day she came to the realization, “Why don’t I turn the hobby, what I love the most, into a job?” she said.

That is when she began thinking about broadcast journalism. Now Burke has worked as a TV News Reporter in Dayton, Ohio at ABC22/FOX45 for the past two years.

Burke came to Marist and declared a broadcast journalism major, but thought she would end up working in print. She knew the field of work she wanted to be in but did not know specifically what she wanted to do.

For a while, Burke did not know her plan for post-graduation. “It was the most stressful thing ever, I had no idea and I never wanted college to end. Through being at Marist and taking classes did I realize [broadcast reporting] is something I truly want to do.”

Burke was apart of the MCTV, which gave her a lot of good experience that she was able to take beyond Marist. She also cites Kevin Lerner, Ryan Rodgers and Kathleen McNulty as professors that really inspired her because of their ability to keep students engaged in the material. Referring to Lerner, she said, “He is so wise and he makes you want to listen. That is a quality that not every teacher has.”

However, Burke cites much of her experience to have come from the internships she held. When she was a junior she worked for MSG Networks in production then she interned at WABC in the investigative unit. That is where she really fell in love with the news.

As mentioned, Burke currently works as a TV News Reporter at ABC22/FOX45, however, according to a video she uploaded March 30, 2019, she will be leaving her job there to pursue a position elsewhere.

Her average day begins at 3 a.m. when she gets to work, she makes short write-ups regarding stories that will be presented, then she pairs them with sound bites that other people created. After that story, Burke works on another, which typically is a feature whereas the first story is news. She then works on some live segments for a few hours. Following that, she goes goes back to the station and writes for the evening.

Burke covers the early morning shift to keep up with the 24 hour news cycle. Her day never goes as planned, she says. She is directly immersed in the demand of the current media environment — citing her frequent 8 p.m. bedtime.

“You come in and you have all these things thrown at you and you have to figure it out. Then the kicker is you have to get it on TV and have it look good. It's a challenge, but challenges are fun and that is what makes it fun,” Burke said.

Burke believes Marist prepared her well for post-grad life during her time on campus.

“No matter what school you go to, you are never going to be 100 percent prepared. There is just no way until you are actually doing it. But at Marist one of the biggest things was my internships. That truly showed me what the real world was all about. If I did not do those internships, I don’t know where I would be.”

She also describes entering the real world to be like, “jumping into a cold pool of water and just going with it.”

Clancy Burke on Air, photo courtesy of Burke’s instagram @clancyburke

If Burke could go back to her time here at Marist she says she would not allow herself to stress as much.

“I wasted so much time stressing when that did not get me anywhere. You have to work hard, and I did work hard, but I was stressing for no reason at all. If you are working hard and doing everything you can it is going to work out. It might not work out right after graduation. It takes time, you have to work hard and that is totally okay.”

Finally, if she could give advice to current or graduating students it would be:

“Work as hard as you can, get internships. Those internships are key because they show you what the real world is like...you truly learn a lot. but have fun. College is four years of your life. You are going to figure the real world out. Whether it happens tomorrow, two years from now, you will figure it out while you are working towards your next goal. But nothing is fun unless you are enjoying your life.”