A student reflects on interning at the Island Dispatch

by Michelle Paternostro
Grand Island Dispatch, January 18, 2008

During my junior year, when everyone was choosing classes to take the upcoming year, I kept hearing portfolio and internship would be so good for next year. I found out many of my friends were taking the class, and decided why not? I already knew what I wanted to major in college, and what I wanted to be “when I grow up.

After handing in sign-up sheets to the guidance office, it was time to get started on finding an internship. This was the tricky part. I had to find a news operation nearby, preferably on Grand Island, that I could get to easily as I didn’t have my license back then and probably wouldn’t when I started the internship. This set me up with Niagara Frontier Publications, the creators of the newspaper you’re reading right now. Unfortunately I started the internship late because I was on the swim team and didn’t have time to do the internship with practice and meets. Then swim ended. Let me tell you, I am a nervous wreck when it comes to talking to new people, let alone meeting them. So I kind of put off calling the Dispatch until Mrs. Chamberlain, the CEIP/portfolio/internship/all-around awesome instructor, made me call one day during class (I went outside the classroom, I didn’t want all my classmates looking at me, watching me make the call). Then it took a while to actually get in touch with Managing Editor Terry Duffy, my internship sponsor; it was like a game of tag. Messages were left and answered with more messages. Then a “schedule set-up time” was made. I was nervous (new people, remember?). I don’t think I said very much; the most I can do in these “new people” situations is nod my head and say “yes” or “no.”

Michelle Paternostro

So my time at NFP started. I was to retype news stories so they could be formatted to put into the papers the editors made.

I learned a lot. I never really read newspapers, except the comics, of course. Think back to the National Honor Society announcement with Kelly Cich, TJ Slipko and Ashley Green that I prepped for the Dispatch. That was one I typed, having to edit it to make it fit into the space it had to (sorry guys).

My editors (Sue Campbell, Larry Austin and Josh Maloni) gave me tickets to go to “Kissmas Bash” with a friend in exchange for a preview and a review on it. Let’s just say those articles were on the fridge for a while.

Then there was this one day. I had to call this one lady to ask her about a festival in Sanborn. It was scary. Sue, Josh and Larry were all telling me stories, trying to get me to call her, saying it would be OK – “She doesn’t even know you” – and on and on.

Overall, this was a very fun experience, though. Sometimes, I will admit, I was not in the mood to go to “the paper” as my family and I came to call it. But when I got there, it was OK. Larry played his YouTube videos of music and shows probably no one has ever heard of – some had such weird names I swear he just typed in random words. Sue told stories of her time at St. Bonaventure, one of my top choices of where to go for college. Josh corrected the type-ups I would do while Terry was giving me more to type.

While this article is probably already too long, I think at this time I’ll have to talk about the actual internship program. The class is called portfolio. In it you make a portfolio (obviously, right?). You do a lot of typing, but it’s not bad. The entire project is you: All about you and your life experiences (I guess you can call them that). Also, if you want, you can take an internship. I would recommend it. Even through the whole “new people nervousness” issue, I came to know and like the people I worked with.

If you’re someone who is considering editing or journalism, I recommend you take this class and come to NFP for your internship. I learned quite a lot through my experience here. I learned the style of writing used by newspapers – although I still have a hard time remembering some of the rules!

Michelle Paternostro is member of the Grand Island High School Class of 2008.