Hello!

Today I had my first meeting with the Executive Editor of the Times so we could set my the time frame for my internship and get other little details worked out. It turns out that I will begin my internship on Monday, June 22. Bill Nangle, the Executive Editor, gave me a very general schedule that outlined what I will be doing each of the four weeks.

I will be spending the first couple of days visiting all of the offices around the region and getting to know the people I will be working with. The remainder of my first week will be spent doing some actual reporting, although Bill isn't sure what type of reporting I will be doing.

I'll spend my second week working the copy desk. This means working some pretty late nights, but I expected that. This will probably be the area with which I'm most comfortable, since editing is what I do on a daily basis with my newspaper and yearbook staffs at school. The only difference is that I don't have to sit down with every person at the paper and explain their mistakes and how to fix them next time. ;-)

My third and fourth week will allow me to focus on the two areas in which I feel like I need work. I explained to Bill that I've had some training in pagination and design techniques, but I would like to know more about upcoming trends and design techniques that will help me help my students take the newspaper and yearbook to the next level. I also told Bill about the newspaper's plans to go online in the fall, and that I will be attending a workshop at Ball State to help me brush up on my web skills. He thinks it would be a good idea for me to spend some time with their online team so I can learn more about how a news website is put together.

Right now I have a variety of emotions going through my mind, including excitement and nervousness. I can't wait to start because this is what I originally went to college to do before I decided to add on education. I've always had such a love for journalism, even when I was little, and to be able to practice it in a professional setting is so exciting for me. However, naturally, I am a little nervous about working for the second largest newspaper in the state.

I should hear back from my managing editor, who will be creating my schedule, sometime in the next week. I'll update again then. In the meantime, the Times has a great website; you can check it out at www.nwi.com. Until next time. . .