Warwick Beacon / Cranston Herald

I started at Beacon Communications in the summer of 2005 after meeting Publisher John Howell at the Statehouse while, ironically, on another internship. I worked nine months at Beacon before leaving to accept a reporting job at The South County Independent. Along the way, I learned a lot, grew a little and met some very interesting people. I understand this paper is supposed to be an evaluation of my past ten-week internship, but after working at Beacon so long it is virtually impossible to speak about the last ten weeks without at least referring from time to time to my prior months there.

During the course of my internship, I served as a general assignment reporter predominantly for the Cranston Herald and Warwick Beacon, although I dabbled in the Johnston Sunrise when needed. I covered everything from City Council to profiles to breaking news. I also served as the unofficial assistant editor of the Herald. In that capacity I fielded calls, wrote editorials, helped interns and edited copy when the editor was absent or overwhelmed.

Coupled with my prior experience at Beacon, I learned even more about reporting, writing, editing and dealing with people from all walks of life. In addition, because I was working on four separate deadlines a week, I became very good at time management and am proud to say I never missed a deadline expect for those totally beyond my control. (i.e. when the event was cancelled.)

For ease of readability, I will address the course criteria one-by-one.

1. Be able to write a cogent and coherent resume and cover letter to use for potential jobs in your field. After much revision, I believe I designed a professional looking resume that includes relevant, accurate and concise information for a potential employer. Of course, you may judge yourself by looking at the resume included.

2. Be able to show written or taped accomplishments produced as part of your internship. I included a number of my articles as examples of my work. Some were selected at random based on if I had extra copies of the issues while others were chosen for specific reasons. You will note I included one whole issue of the Cranston Herald. This is the issue where the entire news staff left the office and John put me ³in charge² of the Herald. I had been acting Herald editor for a few days prior so not only did I design and edit the paper but I also assigned some of the stories and gathered the relevant letters to the editor and other copy. I also included an issue of the Beacon where I wrote every story, save one, on the front page.

3. Be aware of job-seeking skills, including published and Internet sources for jobs. After reading the course materials, I believe I am aware of job-seeking skills. I have also made a concerted effort to network with those already in the field. That is why I was offered my current job at the Independent and may be how I land my next job.

4. Be aware of how to proceed in a job interview. After reading the course materials and receiving feedback, I think I am ready for a job interview.

5. Be able to discuss workplace issues, problems and solutions, including sexual harassment, professional misconduct, employee rights, obligations and benefits. I am not sure where this was included directly in the course. However, I feel I have picked up on all those issues somewhere between working at Beacon for nine months, Perspectives Corporation for three years in the I.T. Department, serving on the board of directors for two corporations, working for The Good Five Cent Cigar, holding an internship in the university's office of the president, being a tour guide and working as a camp counselor for five years. Basically, show up on time, be kind, don't talk back to your boss (most of the time) and iron your shirt.

6. Be able to communicate effectively with professionals in the workplace. At The Beacon, editorial meetings were exceedingly rare. At The Herald, things were slightly better. The editor and I talked often and after doing her job for two months, could anticipate what she needed, when and how.

7. Be prepared to enter the workplace after graduation. I will miss college, truly, after graduation. However, I think I will be more than prepared to start a career in journalism. I have experience at college, city and town newspapers. I have experience with writing news and editorials, editing and photography. Also, after being around newspapers and taking in an interest in it I have a good handle on the business end of newspapers.

Before I actually started at The Beacon, I wish I had known how to say ³no² better for John assigned me a seemingly infinite amount of stories.

It is difficult for me to narrow done what I applied from courses to my internship. I do not recall where I learned a lot of things. However, I know I used Professor Berke's math tricks and Professor Pantalone's writing suggestions.

For students considering working at The Beacon I would warn them that they will either love it or hate it. John is a smart businessman that keeps costs down by running the paper primarily on interns or recent college graduates. As such he will throw anyone, even those with no experience, into a story. The benefit is you get to try things virtually no other paper would let an intern do. (For example, what paper leaves a college journalism intern totally in charge of a paper and, ironically, by default in charge of the other interns.) The downside is you receive little feedback as an overworked staff rushes to get out three papers on four deadlines. You learn by fire as I did and learn by making major mistakes, again as I did, and having angry people call and tell you just what they think of you, your paper and your mistake. The Beacon is truly trial by fire and you find out very fast if journalism is for you.

I do not want to construe that I did not enjoy my time at The Beacon, for I did very much. The people are overwhelming friendly and the story opportunities are incredible. I was sent to The Bahamas on assignment (my first plane ride), glad-handed state lawmakers at the Statehouse and received a personal tour of the state's Emergency Management Operations Center from RIEMA Director Robert Warren. I also used $1,000 cameras to take pictures of everything from children playing to meetings and I think, or at least hope, my photography skills improved.

If there is nothing else I learned at The Beacon it is be accurate. I learned that the hard way but not for lack of trying.

-- Chris Barrett