How I’m going from “The Harvard of Muncie” to interning at my hometown paper

Follow along with me this summer as I spend 10 weeks at my hometown newspaper.

I’m from the Midwest — a proud Indiana Hoosier from Bloomington, who is getting her degree at Ball State University in Muncie. If there is one thing our journalism department has taught me, it’s everyone needs an internship (or several) so this summer I’m starting my second one!

I’m the cute one in the middle and my friends Emily and Elliott are on the left. Who knows who that other guy is?

I ♥ LOCAL NEWS!

I’m an editorial designer that loves good design, good people and doing good work.

I must confess, I have a huge design crush on the Washington Post and the New York Times (especially the new kids section) but I still can’t help but love local journalism.

I love being reminded how important our small, immediate world is. Local journalism makes me feel connected to the struggles, concerns and celebrations of my community.

I’m nothing but extremely excited to work at the paper I grew up reading.

I ♥ PRINT!

I love making things with my hands and this translates into my love for designing print products.

I’ve worked as the creative director for my college paper, a layout intern at the Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Indiana and I’ve even helped put on a journalism summer camp for high school kids and have spoken at a couple of national conventions for them.

I’ve also found a community within the Society for News Design (Hi ya’ll 👋 ) at Ball State’s student chapter, which turned into volunteering in February 2016 for the Best of Digital Design.

These have all revolved around print and I’ve loved every second of it.

HOW AM I PREPARING?

I just finished up another layout internship at a small design studio in Anderson, Indiana. I’ve taken a few key lessons from that as I prepare to start my new adventure.

1. Ask questions like “How would you have done this?” or “Is there anything I could have done better?” when you’re looking for feedback.
2. Everybody has a style guide but reading the paper and familiarizing yourself with the different departments goes a long way.
3. Notebooks, baby. I keep a bullet journal. I like to write down notes, tasks and things I can’t forget about.

SEE YOU LATER

Are you a design student or an intern, too? Catch me on twitter or instagram.