Lauren Spencer  Journal Staff

Meet Dan Lampariello. He may be a familiar face to students around the Suffolk University campus, but soon people all across New England might recognize him.

Lampariello was one of four students to be chosen as the newest broadcasters of “Suffolk in the City,” a segment that airs on the New England Cable News morning show.

The partnership between NECN and Suffolk University’s Studio 73, allows students to gain real world experience in live reporting, story writing, editing and interviews. Many aspiring students audition for the position, and each semester, NECN selects three to four new reporters.

Lampariello, a junior broadcast journalism student, was excited to have been chosen for the spring 2013 semester.

“It’s going to be great, great experience,” he said. “What college student gets to say that they’ve been on a major [morning cable news program] before they graduate?”

Throughout high school, Lampariello worked as a sound designer for his local town television station in Dracut, Mass. He hopes to be a news anchor or reporter for a major program one day, and thought that working with NECN and “Suffolk in the City” would be a positive step in that direction.

“You’re going to be viewed by [over a] million people [who are] in the market for NECN. You’re getting real world experience with writing your own stories, setting up for a report, being live on television and that’s definitely an awesome opportunity for students,” he said.

Joining Lampariello on this semester’s “Suffolk in the City” news team is Ashley Cullinane. A broadcast journalism major, it was the school’s communication department that attracted the sophomore to Suffolk.

“Suffolk has an amazing [communication] department. I learned about ‘Suffolk in the City’ my freshman year but I just thought it would be something fun to do one day,” she said.

That day wasn’t as far off as Cullinane expected, however. She auditioned and was selected for the position this spring and is now looking forward to getting started.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I feel like it’s just a stepping stone that all broadcast journalism majors want to do. I think a hands-on experience is the most important thing.”

Cullinane has taken a variety of broadcast journalism and media production classes so far at Suffolk and hopes her experience with “Suffolk in the City” will help her to learn even more about the industry.

“I like editing and more behind the scenes stuff, [but] I wanted to see what it’s like to be in front of the camera [too],” she said. “What I’ve learned at Suffolk from my professors is that you really need to be multi-faceted and do well in every area.”

With hopes of getting a job in the news industry after graduation, Cullinane is excited that this unique opportunity will help her get a head start on her dream job a little sooner than she may have thought.

“It’ll just be really fun, I’m excited,” she said. “I never expected to actually do all this right now.”

In addition to Cullinane and Lampariello, Chris Maynard will also see time in front of the camera this semester. His enthusiastic personality and evident sense of humor led the junior business major to try out for the broadcasting role.

“I really like the whole entertainment scene,” he said. “I love everything to do with lights, cameras and action.”

Maynard brings some similar experience to “Suffolk in the City.” He spent time working on small films in Hollywood, which has him familiar with sound production and behind the scenes aspects of the broadcast process. He said this time he’s most excited about being on the other side of the camera.

“I’m excited to watch myself be on television, I think that’s going to be really cool. Hopefully, MTV or NBC or some other large agency watches me on TV and thinks I’m hilarious, and [they give me my] own show,” laughed Maynard.

“I’m also excited to entertain New England with my own spin on current events, and hopefully make you laugh,” he added.

Famous or not, Maynard hopes to get a job in the field following graduation and hopes “Suffolk in the City” will be a good opportunity to get on the right track.

“I can really see networking with all the people that come into the studio to be tremendously beneficial,” he said.

Carla Rojo will be the fourth broadcaster featured on “Suffolk in the City” this semester, bringing in a new wave of culture to the program.

Rojo, a junior broadcast journalism, speaks both English and Spanish.

With goals of incorporating her bilingual skills, as well as her interest in sports, into a news broadcasting position one day, Rojo said “Suffolk in the City” will be a great way to get started.

“The experience I’m going to get from [this] is priceless,” she said. “A lot of people, even people who have their degrees, don’t get the opportunity to be live on cable. For all of us, this is such a great opportunity. I would love to do something like Telemundo [someday] and kind of use both sides of my heritage to communicate.”