Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Miller interns with Herald Republican newspaper

Summer is the time that most students take on internships, but for HAC student Megan Miller, there is no time like the present. Miller started her internship at the Herald Republican on September 25, getting experience in journalism that some may not find until after they graduate.

The internship was not one that Miller found advertised. “I had, a while back, asked if they took in interns to work there, and remembered that they said that in fact they did, so I contacted them again,” said Miller. That process began with e-mailing Amy Oberlin, news editor at the Herald. From there, they set up an interview that eventually culminated in Miller getting the position. While she never submitted writing samples for the position, Oberlin had read work that Miller had done for an online platform during a previous internship, including listicles, opinion pieces, and more traditional articles.

Miller sees all the inner workings of the newspaper, from writing stories and conducting interviews to editing and brainstorming new ideas. “You get a taste of pretty much everything the Herald has to offer,” she said, and in doing those things, Miller gets to enjoy learning about organizations and events in the community and then share them with others.

Her studies at Trine as an English major have given her a strong foundation to draw from for such a varied array of responsibilities. Time spent peer editing assists Miller in editing stories, and the knowledge of how to prioritize information and organize that information in newspaper format she credits to her education.

For those looking for an internship like hers, Miller says, “Don’t go in expecting you know what you’ll be doing… [and]when it comes to finding a story, you can run into many snags along the way.”

One such snag for Miller? Planning on interviewing a small local speech team, she arrived and quickly realized that the team she was interviewing numbered almost 30 people. In these moments, it’s about staying calm, she said: “I just asked if I could interview a more manageable number of them.”

As someone who wants to work in journalism, an internship like this is a font of knowledge. Working at the Herald, she learns the basics of running a newspaper as well as how to find stories that others might overlook, and how newspaper writing works in the real world.

There are many things people learn in the classroom, but getting out in the workplace can provide a whole different perspective. HAC students get a taste of it in internships like these.