Grace Bentkowski is no stranger to the world of news media. Bentkowski has been involved in journalism since her sophomore year of high school, and she has already established an impressive career in journalism as a sophomore in college.
“I used to write when I was really little, but I never thought I would be a writer when I grew up. It's funny that it all came back around. I started doing Lake Central Television (LCTV) at Lake Central during my sophomore year, and through that, I really fell in love with broadcasting. I also did public relations during my senior year and I figured out that I like to write too, so I thought, ‘Hey, why not? Let's take it to Ball State where I know I can do both and learn a lot,’” Bentkowski said.
During her time at Lake Central High School, Bentkowski played a major role in the production of the weekly broadcast production, LCTV, that produced a mixture of news segments and entertainment features with students around the school. She credits LCTV for her discovery of her love of journalism.
Bentkowski started working for GreatNews.Life after graduating from Lake Central, and realized that her love of journalism extended to more areas than just broadcasting.
“I worked with a lot of cool people at Lake Central,” Bentkowski said. “I figured out that I wanted to do it as a career. My junior year I was a digital editor and then my senior year, I was an editor-in-chief, and I was able to work closely with my co editor-in-chief at the time. Then I decided that I wanted to actually pursue journalism, which is why I started working at GreatNews in June of 2020. I was a publishing and social media editor and a new media journalist as well. That summer going into Ball State was when I was covering graduations, games, sporting events, and other stuff around Northwest Indiana and I was like, ‘Okay, I definitely want to do this as a career.’ It got me excited, and I think it prepared me a lot before I headed into college.”
Bentkowski has fully immersed herself in the realm of journalism at Ball State. She is currently involved in the broadcasting program and is working on an independent research project with other students in the program.
“Right now, I'm digital content manager at NewsLink Indiana, which is our broadcasting program here at Ball State. With that, I primarily work with promoting the show through digital and social media advertising. In addition to that, I'm working on an independent research study with a few other broadcast kids. We're working on one about cameras in the courtroom. Indiana is piloting a new thing where they're allowing cameras to be in courtrooms for educational purposes. We're making that into a smaller documentary that's hopefully going to come out in May,” Bentkowski said.
Though she began college with a clear career plan, Bentkowski has since realized that she is not sure where she wants her career to take her. As her love of journalism broadened to many areas of coverage, she realized the many opportunities and paths available within the journalism field.
“It's funny because I came into college with more of a set idea than I have now. I feel like people go to college and they're like, ‘Okay, I'm going to hone in on this one thing and I'm going to do it as a career.’ And I was like, ‘You know what, I'll go for broadcasting news and anchoring,’ but now that I'm here, I'm not completely sure what I want to do. I like every aspect of journalism so much, whether it's digital and social media or whether it is interviewing or writing or anything like that. I am hoping that once I graduate, I'll be working in some vicinity of a newsroom,” Bentkowski said.
When she’s not in the newsroom, Bentkowski enjoys relaxing with her roommates and listening to music. She also enjoys creative writing and dancing in her free time.
Bentkowski is an expert when it comes to getting a head start on a career in journalism. She advises aspiring journalists to jump into journalism as soon as possible.
“I have four amazing roommates. We all share a house together, and we always have a lot of fun. We plan little activities to do on the weekend so we can all chill when we're not worried about school. I also like to write little snippets of poetry and stuff like that when I'm bored,” Bentkowski said.
“For people who are looking to get into journalism, try to get as hands-on as quick as you can. You'll really start to fall in love with it and figure out exactly what you like to do once you're more hands-on,” Bentkowski said.
With years of experience already in her arsenal, Bentkowski is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in any area of journalism. She loves every aspect of the career, and is excited to see what her future holds.