Pay it forward

My latest endeavor is to explore every possible angle of this industry in order to be the best journalist/manager I can be. I want to know everything. (Well, okay, not everything...)

I suppose I have a little bit of a head start. I can cover small town community news in multiple forms. I can whip up an article outlining the main points of a local government meeting. I can type up birth and wedding announcements and compile obituary information.

But I want to sell ads. I want to plan and organize a marketing event. I want to write an editorial. I want to shoot audio and video and post it online. I want to blog on my paper's website and acquire a following. I want to write advertorial pieces for a special section. I want responsibility. I want to be put to work.

And I think I've scored an internship where I can accomplish about 90 percent of those goals.

My first day was Wednesday. Since then, I've been given the task of writing profiles about breast cancer survivors for our big Think Pink campaign that we're going to be kicking off in October (which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month). I've been extended an offer to write an editorial or two while our opinions editor is on vacation. I've been given sole responsibility for providing content for our holiday section in November. I said hello to the CEO. I went on four sales calls with the marketing director. I have my own company desk, e-mail and phone number. I'm on cloud nine.

The people within this industry continue to amaze me. I've had multiple journalists go out on a limb for me when it wasn't necessarily in their best interests. When I applied for my first internship as a reporter, my boss hired me with no experience at all - no high school publications, no college newspaper. Nothing. And the best journalism professor I had in college extended me an internship opportunity after reading my first research paper he'd assigned in class. These journalists had no evidence of work ethic or compatibility or lifelong goals. I'd like to think that they must've seen something in me, maybe a spark of some sort. But they really did take a leap of faith, and now they've done it again.

It's journalists like these guys (and gals) that make me proud to be part of this industry. And it's encouraging to know that there are other journalists investing in other young people like me all over the country. I am eternally grateful to them for the opportunities they've given me, and it is my hope that I can turn around and extend those opportunities for others somewhere down the road.