Summer reporting job a great learning experience
Months ‘flew by’ for StarPhoenix intern
When I was a kid, I always wanted to work at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, although growing up in Regina, I don’t remember exactly how I came to that conclusion. This summer, thanks to the internship portion of the journalism program at the University of Regina, I finally had my opportunity.
It can be rare to pick the right career path the first time you go to university, and even more difficult to find a job where you love every minute of it on the first day, and each day after. For me, in both of these situations I’ve been incredibly fortunate.
On my first day, I immediately knew I picked the right internship to apply for, and was thankful I was able to get my first choice. Even though journalism can be stressful at times, at the end of the day, I’ve never wavered in my love of the profession. This summer was a whirlwind of going to events, meeting people, and heading back to the newsroom to tell their stories. It’s hard to pinpoint exact moments or experiences that stick in my mind, because the longer I think about it, more and more of the stories I wrote and the people I met this summer come rushing back.
Many of my favourite days involved being able to get out of the newsroom to do interviews in person, instead of just over the phone.
The end of August was certainly a bittersweet one for me, because it seems like the summer just flew by. In my first few years of university, taking general classes, I would often find myself counting the weeks until the semester was over and I could have a break. This summer was the opposite. I found myself avoiding thoughts about how many weeks were left.
Others in the newsroom have told me — and I’ve really begun to notice myself as the summer comes to an end — in just four short months I’ve grown as a reporter. I’m incredibly thankful for the help and guidance from everyone in the newsroom, even if it was just for the simplest of questions.
Everyone in the StarPhoenix newsroom works tirelessly to put out the news every day, and it was a pleasure to work with such dedicated and wonderful journalists, even if it was only for four months.
At first, I was fairly unfamiliar with Saskatoon, so adjusting to living and working here was a bit of a process, especially working as a journalist, because having contacts in a city is often important to the job. However, again thanks to everyone in the newsroom, I only really felt clueless about people and places in the city for a few weeks.
Throughout my time here, I was able to learn — gaining skills in the newsroom and outside its walls, meeting people with various perspectives and ideas, and going to events about topics I had never looked into before. I was also able to expand my skills in photography and photojournalism, which I’ve always had an interest in, but never really had the opportunity to develop.
My internship at the StarPhoenix may even take the top spot on the list of my favourite summers so far in my life. I truly can’t emphasize enough how grateful I am to have worked here. Even though I hope my name won’t be out of the paper entirely over the next few months, it’ll be strange not to walk into the StarPhoenix newsroom every day.