Hilary Stohs-Krause
By JOHNNA HJERSMAN
J Alumni News staff
For nearly 50 years, Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internships have been a mark of journalism prestige.
Students earning the highly competitive internships receive some of the best training available, giving them the experience and skills that help them transition into the professional world.
Last summer, five CoJMC students were among 79 Dow Jones copy editing interns nationwide. One of them — a May graduate — even parlayed the internship into a full-time job.
The Amarillo Globe-News hired Hilary Stohs-Krause at the end of her internship. She said her experience in Amarillo, Texas, has strengthened her desire to be in journalism.
“In a smaller town,” she said, “you see how vital a role the newspaper plays.”
Last summer, the UNL student interns were scattered at newspapers small and large throughout the country. Their newspapers ranged from the Grand Forks Herald — a medium-sized Midwest daily — to The Dallas Morning News — one of the 20 largest newspapers in the country.
After two weeks of intensive training sponsored by DJNF at campuses across the country, the students honed their skills, expanded their knowledge and gained invaluable experiences for future careers.
Emily Anderson
Besides Stohs-Krause, the other DJNF copy editing interns were: Emily Anderson, who trained at Penn State University and interned at the Cape Cod Times; Johnna Hjersman, who trained at Penn State University and interned at The Palm Beach Post; Aaron James, who trained at the University of Missouri and interned at the Grand Forks Herald; and Brady Jones, who trained at the University of Texas at Austin and interned at The Dallas Morning News.
Although all five students received similar pre-internship training, once they reached their internships their duties and responsibilities varied. Some dealt strictly with editing copy and writing headlines; others designed pages. And some had substantial responsibilities.
Brady Jones
At the Cape Cod Times, Anderson was the first person to look over the paper in print and the last line of defense against errors.
“The most interesting and scariest part of my job was going to the presses each night,” Anderson said. “At about 1:30 a.m., after I finished Web editing for the night, I drove about 15 minutes across town to our press facility. I was in charge of making sure there were no big errors on the front page, ‘A’ section and in the obituaries. It felt like a lot of responsibility for an intern, but I knew my training and classes prepared me well.”
At the Grand Forks Herald, Aaron James did it all, including editing stories, designing pages, assigning pages to other copy editors and deciding which stories would be promoted in the front page’s flag. Toward the end of his internship, James was assigned to front-page design. By the end of the summer, he had designed 12 front pages.
Aaron James
“I was lucky that I took page design from (UNL professor) Tim Anderson before going into the internship,” James said. “Without that knowledge, the first few weeks would have been a lot slower, and I wouldn’t have been able to do all that I did.”
All of the interns credited the many professors and classes they’ve taken at CoJMC for their successes in obtaining and completing the internships. To qualify for the internship, they completed a lengthy application and took a test that covered everything from current events and grammar to headline writing and editing.
“Honestly, I was surprised by myself,” said Jones, who grew up in a small western Nebraska town. “I was really nervous about the internship because Dallas is a huge city and the paper is much larger than any place I’ve worked before. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to handle it, that I wouldn’t make the cut. But I learned a lot and really felt like I was able to be a contributing member of the team. It really is a testament to the education I’ve had at Nebraska.”
Four of the students returned to UNL at the end of their summers with glowing recommendations and strong references.
Stohs-Krause was grateful to land a job in an industry that is rapidly cutting positions.
“There’s obviously a challenge (working) in journalism,” Stohs-Krause said. “But it’s not like newspapers are going to go away. As long as people are doing quality work, I think there will be jobs available.”
loading...
