Even with all of the other experiences outside of my internship, I have to say that my actual work experience has been the highlight of my first week at CE. I'm interning at the Queens Courier newspaper in Queens, NY. Before my first day, I have to admit that I had some skepticism about my upcoming internship. I had an hour-long commute (including a subway, a transfer at Penn Station, taking an actual, above ground train, and walking three blocks), I found very few restaurants in the area that caught my eye for lunch, and after going through the test run of my commute, what I could see of my job site, a small door leading to a narrow staircase to my office, was not very impressive.
However, on my first day I realized that I had an awesome internship. My mentor, Pete Davis, was very kind and helpful right from the start. Also, the publishers and editors of the paper were very welcoming as well. That day was a busy one, since they had been closed the day before for the 4th of July holiday, and they had approaching deadlines to meet. Everyone got to work straight away, including myself. That day and a few before had been some of the hottest in the history of Queens, and a writer on the staff was working on a story about the heat wave. They asked me to go out into the area and interview a few residents, store owners, construction workers, whoever, and get some quotes about the heat wave. The next day the paper was printed and since I got the quotes, I was listed as a co-writer on the byline of the cover story (on my first day!).
Later on in the week I worked on many other assignments. I conducted some interviews and wrote an article about two adult students at the Queens Community College who earned a Scholarship award, which will be printed in this week's paper. I also interviewed a man about his community service for the weekly 'Star of Queens' feature, which will appear in next week's paper. I wrote two sports blog posts for AspireNY.com, an online version of one of their sister publications, Aspire, which is a magazine for college students in the area. On Friday, they sent me out on an assignment to cover two stories. The Queens Center mall was adding on some new retailers, so I was writing a story about that, but one of them was a Lego store. On Friday for their grand opening they were having kids help their 'Master Model Builder' (yes, this is a real job) build an 8-foot R2-D2 model. I was sent to the mall Friday morning to interview some Lego and mall representatives, talk to some kids and parents, and take some photos. Both of these stories and the photos will appear in this week's paper.
This first week has been a great work experience and I've really gained some insight into the field that I may want to pursue. I feel very proud that they're trusting me with so much responsibility; letting me take the lead on so many stories that they'll actually print in their newspaper. I'm really enjoying my job, among many other great aspects of the program, and I have to thank CE for setting me up with such a great opportunity!
-- Corey Flayman, CE 2010
-- Corey Flayman, CE 2010
1 comment:
wish my internship was as good as yours
Post a Comment