Keeping my eyes open

To wrap up my last week on the features desk, I am writing a story for people my age that I pitched to the editor. The story is about the experiences of off-campus roommates and how they deal with conflict. The story is for those preparing to move off campus for the first time, so I've also included interviews with a local psychologist and a director of housing at a college to give opinions on which personalities match up and the benefits of having roommates.

The first weeks of the internship I told my coach Mary Ann Hogan that I would like to develop my own story ideas. I began a “watch journal” and sent her interesting things that I saw around Springfield. This roommate idea was one of them.

I'm about to move to the sports section. When I met with the editor, she gave me a rundown of the things they cover. One was a golf tournament, and she said I should be thinking of side stories. This is where the watch journal again came in handy. While I was doing an interview in a neighborhood, I noticed that the men had made a small golf course in their backyards. The editor loved the idea, and I will be writing about that in a couple weeks.

I really have Mary Ann to thank for getting me to open my eyes to what is going on around me. She told me that it was just a skill that needed to be developed. I think she is right. I'm not a super story-idea person yet, but by the end of the summer I could be.

-- Amanda Stone, Northeastern State University, Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader