The summer after my freshmen year, I was fresh out of MMC2100 and ready for something more than the Donna Green Townsend squirrel story. I applied for an internship at my hometown newspaper, The Hernando Today, which is the local section of the Tampa Tribune. I was offered the position and couldn't wait to begin. I found out that not all internship applications are elaborate online documents, fluffed by letters of recommendations and inspirational essays. To obtain this internship, it was as simple as calling and inquiring about it. All I had to say was I attend the University of Florida J-School and I was practically in business (after a personal interview, of course).
As I arrived, the education reporter was leaving, so I took her place. For the first month I covered local school stories, including everything from teachers' summer vacation plans to FCAT scores. After the school year ended, I covered feature stories, which was my favorite part of the gig. I wrote one story about a woman who was turning 100 and her twin daughters wrote in to many famous actors and football and baseball teams and got personalized birthday cards and gifts from them. Another story I wrote was about two women who had been working at the local Dunkin' Donuts for 20 years and knew all of their customers by name and coffee order. It's that kind of small-town charm that I loved to incorporate in the stories, because that was at the heart of the newspaper. It's something that's slowly leaking out of newspapers and television as the Internet takes dominance with its quick-reads and instant news blurbs. What happened to just sitting down with a glass of orange juice and appreciating a good story? That's why I wanted to become a journalist.
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