Intern project shows impact of slayings on loved ones
The group of talented reporting interns who spent the summer with us have gone back to school or to other jobs, but their good work is still with us.
As a result, you’ll find a story in print and on Dispatch.com on Monday with one of the longest strings of names in a byline that you’ve seen in a long time. And it’s a story you should not miss. Before saying more about the story, I want to tell you about Dispatch interns. We seek the best of the best – typically college students between their junior and senior years who have had experience working at a campus publication and a previous internship.
We take applications and do our recruiting starting now – in October – and seek to complete interviews in November and make hiring decisions in December. Our goal is to make hiring decisions for next summer by the end of December this year.
And we have a true internship program. Because we hire experienced young journalists, they come into the newsroom with a full glass of trust. Based on their experience and recommendations from references, we trust that they will be able to hit the ground running when it comes to reporting and writing, or making good photos.
But we don’t send them out without a life jacket. We pair each with a professional partner, a veteran reporter or photographer who serves as a mentor and touchstone in the newsroom.
And intern coordinator Holly Zachariah, a reporter who serves as a mentor to all of them each year, meets with them once a week for a brown-bag luncheon (often bringing them homemade cookies or brownies).
Zachariah and other veterans of the newsroom speak to the group during those weekly gatherings about their area of expertise, providing interns with valuable tips on reporting, interviewing, writing, researching, finding and using data sources, accessing public records, knowing the public records laws, and a host of other things. And those veterans also become touchstones anytime an intern needs help.
I have met with the interns each year at the start of their time with us. I encourage them to take full advantage of the opportunities they have at The Dispatch to try new things – even take risks. I tell them to never take risks with the facts – ever – but to get out of their comfort zones and try new approaches in writing, or to produce a podcast or video, or some other approach to storytelling that is new to them.
I ask them to find stories we veterans
aren’t seeing and to pitch those ideas to us.
And they did.
This group – Asia Atuah, Tim Carlin, Joe Dandron, Sarah Donaldson, Grace Deng, Sarah Szilagy, Tatyana Tandanpolie and Eiliana Wright – pitched the story you’ll see on Monday.
They did their homework. They prepared a plan, and they presented it to a room full of editors, not knowing whether the editors would approve – in exactly the same format any full-time reporter would be asked to present an idea for an in-depth report.
These young journalists, who came to The Dispatch during a year when homicides are on pace to set a new record for Columbus, wanted to help people understand that homicide victims aren’t statistics, and that they have families who are deeply affected by the loss. They wanted to show how they grieve, and especially how they remember those who were killed.
The interns focused on the mementos that have become memorials to those who were slain – t-shirts, jewelry, sports memorabilia, baby shoes and
Christmas ornaments.
Meshell Blair became part of their story, and we are grateful for her willingness to share her story. She grieves the loss of her 19-year-old son, Cameron Kates, who was killed in March. She remembers him with a keepsake necklace given to her by church friends who had Cameron’s thumbprint etched into a silver, heart-shaped charm.
She said those who kill are taking much more than one life.
“These people don’t realize what they’re doing. They’re not just taking away that person; they’re taking away generations,” she said. “I will never get to see Cameron get married. … He’ll never get to experience having children; he’ll never get to experience having grandchildren.”
She said their last hour together, which ended with hugs and kisses, was an opportunity that a lot of loved ones don’t get, she said. It was a gift.
And now, with this gift from the intern reporting team and an assist from Dispatch reporter Micah Walker, we know that Blair remembers her son with a touch of her necklace and the thumbprint he left on her heart.
Alan D. Miller is editor of The Dispatch. amiller@dispatch.com @dispatcheditor