Helping Create Pathways to Outdoor Careers

(Left to right) Brad Kovach, Anushka Suratia, and Reiss Wegman at the River City Outdoors office.

For rising Marquette High School senior Anushka Suratia, a summer internship meant trading the classroom for a canoe on the Mississippi River, a camera at the Gateway Arch, and plenty of opportunities to learn by doing.

Through the Rockwood Partners in Education (PIE) Summer Internship program, Suratia spent her summer working with River City Outdoors and its affiliated organizations, Big Muddy Adventures and Terrain Magazine, at their shared office in Midtown St. Louis.

The PIE program gives students entering their senior year the opportunity to explore potential careers through hands-on experience and partnerships with professionals in fields that interest them.

“I got to meet a ton of people who are working in the field that I want to be in in the future,” Suratia said. “I’ve learned so much from this, and it’s really changed my perspective on everything digital media has to offer.”

Suratia hopes to study digital media and pursue a career in broadcast journalism, specifically sports media. She already had experience shooting and editing photos and video through Marquette’s digital media production classes and MHSNews, but her internship provided a chance to put those skills to work professionally.

Early in the summer, River City Outdoors Deputy Director and Terrain founder Brad Kovach and Digital Media Manager Reiss Wegman trusted her to cover the Street Heat 200 relay race around the Gateway Arch on her own.

“Taking the initiative on that and knowing that Brad and Reiss trust me to take pictures, it was really fun,” she said.

Suratia interviewing a student athlete of the Wheels Up mountain biking team in Des Peres, Missouri.

Her work expanded from shooting photo and video to editing and publishing content, as well as working with existing footage from previous projects.

“She has been doing everything from going out and shooting photo and video and editing and putting it out herself to taking footage I’ve had from existing projects and editing that on her own,” Wegman said.

For Wegman, the internship was also an opportunity to provide the kind of experience he would have valued as a high school student.

“I would have loved to have an opportunity like this,” he said.

Beyond the technical skills, Suratia gained experience with teamwork, communication, and working independently — skills she expects to carry into her future career.

“This internship has let me dive into a lot of the teamwork and management side of planning, hosting, and filming,” she said. “You’re not going to be in a comfortable environment wherever you go. Everything is going to be new at some point, so how can you make that easier?”

For River City Outdoors, the experience was equally rewarding.

“The thing that’s been gratifying is not only seeing Anushka dive right in professionally but also be such a great fit, just part of the team right off the bat,” Kovach said. “To have someone to be able to step in and help out immediately, it really clicked for us.”

For Suratia, the summer offered more than a line on her résumé. It gave her a firsthand look at a potential career — and the confidence to pursue it.