My run as an intern
Thursday August 16, 2012 | By:Kristie Schiefer, Lancaster Intern |
LANCASTER- No class could have ever prepared me for my stint as a real journalist this summer, and I’m glad to have had both good and bad experiences. I can’t count the number of times I told myself I was going to quit out of frustration. But here I am at the end of 12 weeks ready to head back to college with numerous stories I am proud to have my name on.
The frustration came from the lack of free time in my summer days. Working up to 35 hours at the local Kohl’s and juggling phone calls from few who didn’t respond in a timely fashion each week, I questioned why I ever wanted to write for a newspaper on my vacation when I could take that time to work on my tan.
But it was those members of the community who welcomed “the intern” with open arms and spoke to me as if I wasn’t 19 years old. From showing me around their workplace to communicating effectively with me, I thank you for making my job a little bit easier.
What I’ve learned is procrastination always doesn’t work out in my favor; it leads to more stress and a bad attitude. My interviewing skills have gotten stronger because I am no longer afraid to pick up my cell phone and cold call a stranger. I’ve also written stories faster than I ever thought I could. Instead of staring at my computer screen and writing one sentence every few minutes, the ideas are flowing to write polished stories. I also learned how to lay out the paper a little bit, which will come in handy when I work with my college newspaper. I’m pretty excited to take these skills away from my internship.
But I owe it all to a wonderful mentor who always gave me the praise I needed. I can agree to her stature as a highly acclaimed journalist in the area. She’s quite the character and showed me everything beyond writing news stories, from going to the police station to board meetings to being a professional with the community. Thank you, Jennifer Lysiak.
The frustration came from the lack of free time in my summer days. Working up to 35 hours at the local Kohl’s and juggling phone calls from few who didn’t respond in a timely fashion each week, I questioned why I ever wanted to write for a newspaper on my vacation when I could take that time to work on my tan.
But it was those members of the community who welcomed “the intern” with open arms and spoke to me as if I wasn’t 19 years old. From showing me around their workplace to communicating effectively with me, I thank you for making my job a little bit easier.
What I’ve learned is procrastination always doesn’t work out in my favor; it leads to more stress and a bad attitude. My interviewing skills have gotten stronger because I am no longer afraid to pick up my cell phone and cold call a stranger. I’ve also written stories faster than I ever thought I could. Instead of staring at my computer screen and writing one sentence every few minutes, the ideas are flowing to write polished stories. I also learned how to lay out the paper a little bit, which will come in handy when I work with my college newspaper. I’m pretty excited to take these skills away from my internship.
But I owe it all to a wonderful mentor who always gave me the praise I needed. I can agree to her stature as a highly acclaimed journalist in the area. She’s quite the character and showed me everything beyond writing news stories, from going to the police station to board meetings to being a professional with the community. Thank you, Jennifer Lysiak.
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