Alyssa Roberts is, without a doubt, the youngest person you'll currently find in our newsroom.
She is a senior at Davis High School and our current high school intern.
The high school interns, usually one per semester, work under the direction of Becky Cairns, a feature writer and editor of the award-winning weekly TX. section, produced by teen journalists.
The interns help us out while at the same time gaining experience they can use.
Alyssa is the head photojournalist on her school paper and is also an anchor and reporter for the school's broadcast news program.
At the Standard-Examiner, she writes briefs for the Go! section, helps Becky edit TX. copy and helps compile the Best Sellers lists for the Sunday books page.
She also writes for TX., with her first story scheduled to appear Monday.
Alyssa came to journalism in a roundabout way. Mom was an English major, and Alyssa thought about that but says she is "bad at grammar," so she was trying to figure out what else she could do.
She found the answer in an introductory journalism course. "I totally loved it," she said.
Now, she plans to major in journalism.
Not all of our interns are word people.
Shade Leeds, a senior at Roy High School, was an intern earlier this year. She is an artist and worked with our graphics staff, doing illustrations for both TX. and the Life section. She is now in her second year as an illustrator for TX.
Shade was one of nine Weber School District students who recently talked about their internship experiences at the Weber School District's Work-Based Learning Partners' Luncheon.
The luncheon is an annual event to thank businesses that use interns in the workplace. A hundred-plus interns from Weber School District high schools are working in area businesses this semester.
Shade's presentation dealt with the benefits of an intern program.
As to what she learned: "Knowing how to work in a professional environment, learning about deadlines, how to interact with other people and use their tools -- it's been really very beneficial."
Shade has been interested in graphic design and illustration, which is why she wanted to intern in that area.
"I always liked drawing and that kind of stuff," she said. "I found out you could do art and not have to paint. It's hard to make a living off that."
Shade is now taking graphic design courses at Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College and plans to go to art college. She hopes to be able to get into graphic design and do freelance illustration.
Our high school interns typically get course credit for the work they do.
While the future of print journalism may be up in the air, communication skills won't be going out of style, and both the paper and the interns benefit from the experience.
The internships are an opportunity for the students to get real-life experience in a professional area they are interested in.
At the same time, offering students the opportunity of an internship allows us to help train those who might be the next generation of journalists, even if their future work experiences turn out to be vastly different from those of today.
Dave Greiling is managing editor of the Standard-Examiner. He may be reached at 801-625-4224 or via email at dgreiling@standard.net.
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