Today is National Intern Day, and boy, do we have talented ones at Ideastream Public Media.
Our interns work in many departments here, including news, marketing and development. They don't get coffee for employees, nor drive them around to their assignments. We put them to work alongside our employees, giving them opportunities for hands-on experience. You might see their name atop a web story or hear them on the air.
I’ve had the pleasure of overseeing the newsroom interns this summer and seeing their hard work up close. They are a tenacious team, pitching stories and phoning sources almost immediately after one of those pitches is approved. They helped reporters gather photos and produce social media content. They mustered up the courage to conquer man-on-the-street interviews, including talking to people outside of the Guardians team store the day after President Trump called for the team to revert back to its old name. They compiled helpful lists for the community, from farmers markets, to fireworks, to fairs.
As my colleague Josh Boose put it the other day, “This is the smartest, hardworking group of interns I've ever seen.”
They come from a wide range of backgrounds and interests.
Asha Agarwal, the “Sound of Ideas” intern, is a biology major at Oberlin College, and this internship is her first experience in journalism. She hit the ground running from day one, using her interest in public health to help produce “Sound of Ideas” segments about Ohio’s free health clinics and cuts to Medicaid.
We had two interns from my alma mater, Kent State University, who are both studying journalism.
Nicolette Gasiewski put together a comprehensive, interesting story about how Cleveland museums and organizations got ready for the July 11 premiere of the new “Superman” movie. I was impressed by the variety of sources she spoke with and her attention to detail in her story.
Another KSU Golden Flash, Jonathan Beard, tirelessly tracked the impact of federal funding cuts to organizations like Planned Parenthood and Job Corps. He handled these stories like a journalist well beyond his years – gathering multiple sources, fact-checking and seeking in-depth analyses.
Avantika Pai attends Ohio State University, majoring in history. She used her history background in her reporting on changes to Ohio’s historic tax credits. You may have even heard her voice on the radio earlier this week in a story about Cleveland’s new water taxi.
Alicia Hoppes is a savvy photojournalist from Syracuse University. She used her photography skills to produce photos to go along with stories Ideastream’s reporters were writing for our web site. She also worked on several nature-focused stories, including a report on a new glass walkway at a state park, where she collaboratied with Pai, and a list of Northeast Ohio flower farms.
We also saw some great work from a high school intern – George Atkinson, a rising senior at University School. He wrote a preview of upcoming county fairs and helped produce a “Sound of Ideas” segment about summer construction. He plans to study journalism upon graduating next year.
Supervisors for development and marketing interns Wen Wang and Emmalyn Germovsek have sung their praises all summer long, too. You won’t see their names attached to a byline, or hear their voices on the air, but their work behind the scenes was impressive. Wang helped gather statistics that will be used to create donor engagement strategies. Germovsek helped update the marketing team's digital ads along Euclid Avenue that will now be seen by thousands of visitors to Playhouse Square. Wang attends Denison University and Germovsek goes to Miami University.
In addition to their day-to-day tasks, all of the interns have collaborated on a project with our education team. Their video on the history of NewsDepth (they even had longtime host Rick Jackson in from retirement for an on-camera interview) will be a must-watch online.
Apart from their talents, though, they're just a really great group of young people. They're kind, respectful, eager for feedback and easy to work with. It's been heartening to watch them work collaboratively and even form friendships with each other. In their off hours, they hang with each other.
We’re preparing to bid farewell to this group next week. While I am sad to see them go, I’m proud of the work they produced and the grit and growth they showed throughout the summer. I hope they feel proud and accomplished, too.
I am already looking forward to welcoming our next round of interns in the fall. They’ll certainly have big shoes to fill – but I can't wait to see what they can do.
The Cut" is featured in Ideastream Public Media's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
