Bio
Stephanie Garrett (nee vanKampen)
s.vankampen@hotmail.com
Interning in Zambia, Africa
I began my career as a journalist in the back seat of my family’s caravan. My pen doubled as a microphone which was constantly in someone’s face. Sometimes one of my four brothers and sisters would oblige and I’d have myself an interview. We’d putter along the trans Canada on our annual summer vacation and I’d pretend to send the local CBC News at Six host a regular update of road conditions.
I’ve learned a lot about journalism since then. I left my home in Prince Edward Island to study at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and St Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. In the spring of 2009, I received my BA in Political Science and Journalism.
During university I spent my winters snowboarding the slopes and my autumns on the rugby field. I interned at the CBC in Fredericton, read the news for a local radio station, and became the arts editor of the school newspaper.
It was on campus that I met one of my journalistic heroes, the CBC’s Sally Armstrong. Her passion for Afghanistan and the plight of its women and children really spoke to me. Her take on journalism is one I admire. It’s one of activism.
I learned the power of journalism in Zambia, Africa. I spent a summer there, working with sponsored orphans, and returned the following summer to put on a camp. The poverty and the human rights abuses I witnessed have changed me at the core.
It was there that I decided I want to be a foreign correspondent. I want to tell the stories that so often go untold. I want to travel the world and bring a Canadian perspective to international news.
It was my interest in international news that brought me to work for an Arabic news network. I spent a summer studying and working in Washington, DC as part of a rigorous program called the Institute for Political Journalism. I worked for Al Arabiya, a 24-hour news network based out of Dubai. It serves the Arab world and is the top news channel in Iraq. My experience at Al Arabiya taught me how important perspective is to news production.
Upon graduation, I was named one of seven CBC Newsworld Joan Donaldson Scholars. The prestigious scholarship includes a $2000 award and a four month internship at CBC Newsworld in Toronto.
As part of that program, I spent the summer working as a chase producer and writer for CBC Newsworld in Toronto. I them traveled to Zambia, Africa to work as a filmmaker for a non-governmental organization called GEMS Girls Club.
I am currently living in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island with my husband and working as a TV and radio reporter for CBC. I recently returned from a trip to New Zealand, India and the U.S., and I take every opportunity I get to travel the world.
