By RAHKIA NANCE
Newsdesk editor
I’ve come a long way from the days of scrambling for summer internships. Looking back, I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to work in four separate newsrooms before I graduated college. Each one taught me a little bit more about myself and about the profession I longed to enter.
But there were so many things I wish I had known before I stepped foot into a professional newsroom.
At the Unity ‘08 Convention of journalists of color this summer (July 22-28), I will help host a workshop that aims to help student journalists have the most rewarding internship experience possible.
The idea sprang from a conversation I had with one of my college classmates, Marlon A. Walker, now a crime reporter at the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. Both of us graduated from Florida A&M University, where alumni and other professionals were constantly returning to share their knowledge with us. In keeping with the tradition we benefited from, we decided to pitch a workshop to Unity.
Walker and I will be on a panel of 10 reporters and recruiters who will discuss “How to Make the Most of the Internship Process.” From what to wear to how to sell your story, we will talk about the things successful interns do and how to make the internship experience a good one.
Between Walker’s 10 internships and my four, we drew up a laundry list of dos and don’ts. They were suggestions from experience, some from hindsight and a few from gaffes committed by our classmates. A lot came from what we have observed as young professionals now spending our summers working alongside aspiring journalists. We’ve walked in their shoes and know the road they’re tramping is long, winding and sometimes bumpy. We hope our suggestions can help light the way.
Other panelists include:
Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press.
Doug Mitchell, a producer/director at National Public Radio.
Talia Buford, a reporter at the Providence (R.I.) Journal.
Veronica Marche Miller, a producer at National Public Radio.
Chloe Hilliard, a staff writer at Village Voice.
The workshop will be Thursday, July 24. For more information about this and other workshops at Unity ‘08, go to www.2008unity.org.
Rahkia Nance is a reporter for The Birmingham News and editor of BABJ Newsdesk.
