Hello Mary Ann and everyone!

I think one of our homework assignments were to post goals we wanted to get out of our internship. Here are mine:

Writing Goals:

1. Getting rid of all the clauses and commas that I love.

2. Writing simple, short concise sentences.

3. Keeping one idea to one graph.

4. Smoother, tighter transitions.

General Journalism Goals:

1. I need to find a current reporter who has a writing style that I admire and read them religiously. Does anyone have any suggestions? That way, I can absorb some good writing techniques and styles.

General Career Goals:

1. Since I only have two classes the last semester after my internship, I have some free times on my hands. I want to develop relationships with editors in my area about freelancing, so I’ll want to send them clips throughout my internship and keep in touch with them throughout the summer.

Thanks guys! Have a nice day! Miss you all already!

-Rachelle Leah Gines

My Goals for my internship

1. To get a front page center piece for the Sunday edition of my paper

2. To get a front page story period

3. To gain more practice in business writing

4. To gain more practice in feature writing

5. Learn how to upload photos, stories and video on a news web site

Here are my goals for the summer!

1. Try everything at least once. I want to get out of my comfort zone and try my hand at editing and writing headlines for feature stories, sports, business and anything else the PJ copy desk is willing to throw my way.

2. Use my downtime effectively. While reporters get to run around, I get to sit at a desk for eight hours. There’s a lot of downtime, and I don’t want to waste half my shift checking Facebook and icanhascheezburger (but Jack Marsh’s “Rules of the Room” presentation thoroughly scared me and I don’t think I’ll be checking any personal e-mail and whatnot at work anytime soon). During my downtime, I want to check the American Copy Editors Society’s Web site for headline-writing ideas and grammar quizzes.

3. Design pages, if the opportunity presents itself. I’m OK at design. I’m just not very good at designing and copy editing at the same time, which was the norm at my last internship. The Poughkeepsie Journal’s copy desk is separate from pagination, so I’d like to try pagination, provided the task is separate from editing.

4. Get to work on time, if not early, and attend the budget meeting.

5. Attend budget, and pay attention to how the editors make decisions.

6. Introduce myself to everyone on copy desk within the first week (I start May 27).

7. Stay the whole 8-hour shift, as oppose to bailing out as soon as the paper has hit the press.

8. Pack a healthful meal to work and eat it in the break room, as oppose to going out for fast food and eating it at my desk.

Based on my goals, we can all see what my newsroom flaws are. But I have only 10 weeks to show Poughkeepsie what kind of journalist I am, so I better stay on the ball!

My goals for this summer’s internship:

1. This will be my first experience working for a professional, daily newspaper. Because of this, I hope to learn to write good stories quickly.

2. I hope to learn valuable writing skills from experienced reporters at the paper.

3. I already have a number of story ideas which I hope to be able to write.

4. I would like to get more multimedia experience this summer. Specifically, I would like to at least do 1 audio/photo slide-show story for the paper’s website.

5. To strive to have excellent accuracy in the stories I write.

6. Take up a hobby that will help me become involved with the community.

7. Find interesting and unique stories about people and issues that would most likely be overlooked (this will be a challenge, the Ventura County Star is very good at this from what I have read so far).

8. To hard and make a good impression this summer!

1. I want to improve my interviewing skills. I have a tendency of interviewing people and not knowing when to stop! If people talk a lot, I keep listening and have no idea when to tell them I have enough information.

2. I neeeeeed to make it on the front page, not question about it. Seeing my byline on the front page would be ridiculously exciting!

3. I want to pitch a story that really impresses my coworkers and my boss. I don’t only want to write what they assign me. I have managed to convince my editor to take a different direction on an immigration story that I am doing in just the first week which is inspiring.

4. I really want to get in touch with the community. I have had a hard time adapting to life in Wisconsin, but I know it’s only my first week. I know there is a lot to learn about this city no matter how small it may be.

5. I plan to work my hardest and learn as much as I can from the experienced reporters at the Press-Gazette. I work with a wonderful group of people who have taught me tons in just five days.

AMunn - 23 May 2008 09:06 PM

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5. Attend budget, and pay attention to how the editors make decisions.

6. Introduce myself to everyone on copy desk within the first week (I start May 27).

7. Stay the whole 8-hour shift, as oppose to bailing out as soon as the paper has hit the press.

8. Pack a healthful meal to work and eat it in the break room, as oppose to going out for fast food and eating it at my desk.

wow. Love this. EVERYBODY—good idea to try to be involved at least once (ask your supervisor) in a budget meeting so you can see how the decisions are made out front.... often papers let their reporters and interns attend, either open policy, or by asking… be sure to ask. It will show your pro-activity in trying to fully understand the operation of a newsroom.

vanessamiranda - 06 June 2008 08:04 PM

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3. I want to pitch a story that really impresses my coworkers and my boss. I don’t only want to write what they assign me. I have managed to convince my editor to take a different direction on an immigration story that I am doing in just the first week which is inspiring.

Folks—one of the discussion questions we will be tackling soon is finding good story ideas and pitching enterprise pieces. Should be on everyone’s mind from the get-go!

I got “four” out of five of my goals. Technically three because my story was front page on sunday but not the centerpiece.