The University of Rhode Island
Department of Journalism

Summer internship: hard work, priceless experience

September, 2005 -- Maria Snyder, a senior journalism major from Rhinebeck, N.Y. , writes about her newspaper internship last summer.

Summer is my absolute favorite time of year, and this past one was incredible. I had the opportunity to experience gorgeous Rhode Island at its most beautiful season and the chance to do what I love: write. My internship was through Shoreline Publishers at Westerly This Week, a small independent weekly. This position allowed me to experience different aspects of the business.

I was directly involved in producing, editing and designing the newspaper. It required a lot of hard work and responsibility, but it was a priceless experience.

In the beginning of summer I was covering a feature and a dining review each week for the South County Arts and Life section of the publication. This position was perfect for me because I am really familiar with the South County area. William Lord, my boss and supervisor, met with me once a week to brainstorm story ideas. My assignments were a lot of fun. I met so many interesting people and went to really amazing places. Of course I didn't always agree with my boss, but for the most part we found a way to compromise.

I really enjoyed taking my own photographs, especially when I got fun assignments such as going to the beach to get pictures of locals enjoying the weather. Monday and Tuesday were the most stressful days of the week. Monday was my deadline, so I spent most of that day editing and e-mailing my photographs and the stories. On Tuesdays I drove to downtown Westerly to assist Bill with production and design of the section. I was directly involved in the layout and design of the paper, which was really cool. I really loved writing for the South County Arts and Life section, but Bill became preoccupied with an important business merger. Since Bill and I were the only two people who worked on this section he regrettably had to stop publishing it.

The last issue was released on July 7, and after that I began writing for the Arts and Life section in Westerly This Week. My boss informed me of the business merger and said he wouldn't be able to spend as much time supervising me. The editor from Westerly This Week, Cate Kutzuba, began e-mailing me my assignments. These were challenging assignments because I was unfamiliar with the Westerly area and the stories didn't interest me as much. But I loved the people I worked with in Westerly.

They taught me how to use computer programs such as QuarkXpress and iPhoto, and they also gave me a lot of helpful criticism about my writing style and photography. This internship allowed me to experience a lot of interests I didn't realize I had. It also helped me realize that you are going to have to deal with people who have different styles of working. I found my supervisors to be rather unorganized and too vague in their descriptions of assignments and deadlines. But I worked around it and got everything done. This summer was a very valuable learning experience.

If you have questions for Maria, you can e-mail her.