To be the best that I can be

(At Thursday's dinner from left: Chelsea Hadaway; Shaena Henry; Julio Morales; and Antionette Taylor-Thomas, managing editor, Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette.)


"What do you hope to accomplish during your internship," Chips Quinn Director Karen Catone asked Scholars Thursday evening. With enthusiasm, passion and just a little nervousness, the interns replied:

* To bring a new perspective to the newsroom. To learn and grow as much as I can. To be proud of what I do and to do good work that my paper can be proud of. To build on skills that I have. To practice the skills that I’ve learned. To get a better understanding of journalism. To not screw up.

* To challenge myself. To make the most of my time. To become a more thorough and accurate copy editor. To write stronger leads. To network. To learn to write quality stories on deadline. To find my niche. To write clean copy.

* To eat crawfish, said Sharryn Harvey, who is going to Monroe, La.

* To delve into the community to see what issues aren’t being covered. To encourage more color in the paper. To represent my tribe well.

* To make my parents proud, said C. Joel Marino of Florida International University, who is the first in his family to graduate from college.

* To get out of my comfort zone. To contribute to an in-depth news feature – on the front page. To learn to write fast. To learn design. To get exposure to online. To get better at writing hard news. To improve my speed. To tighten my writing.

* To develop as a photographer and journalist and to win the Pulitzer through my work this summer, said Michelle Le, who will work at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star.

What do you hope to accomplish during your internship?

“My goal is to get a job afterwards,” said Jessica Jones, who will be an intern at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del.

-- Kate Kennedy, Freedom Forum