jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog

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Week of 7/23 - 7/29

Sunday I went in and turned in the pictures of the tractor parade I took. I also wrote a brief story about the tractor parade.

Late Sunday night Bob texted me and told me I needed to wake up early and go around the area and take pictures of flooded rivers and creeks. I woke up early on Monday and went out to take pictures. I came back to the office around 10 and and uploaded the pictures and check obits. I had to leave early because my basement had flooded from heavy rain fall.

Tuesday I went and took pictures of a local farmers market that is hosted. Bob and Lana wanted me get some pictures and write a small story. Later I went to the Clinton County Correctional Facility and took pictures of the guards and their new uniforms.

Wednesday Bob asked me to go back to the fairgrounds and take pictures of people getting set up for the upcoming Clinton County Fair. He also asked me to go out and find pictures of local farming. I could not find any farmers out in their fields but I did find a local store that only sells local produce.

I took pictures there and told Bob that it was the only thing I was able to find in the time he gave me. Bob said he liked them and that they would run in the farm tab he wants to print next week.

Thursday I went with Wendy to the commissioner’s meeting. I tried to keep up with the best I could and I wrote a story on the approvals that the commissioners did for  a few parking areas and a new hazard mitigation program. Wendy had to heavily edit the story since I was unfamiliar with a lot of the terminology and ongoing stories. I do not even count the story as my own at this point because I just basically made the framework and Wendy implemented the meat and potatoes of the story.

I also wrote a quick write up about an active shooter class that EMS services would be practicing this weekend. Lana and I decided that the upcoming Sunday I would go cover the class.

[jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog]

Week of 7/16-7/22

Sunday I came in for a little bit to write the story about the river fest that I had attended on Saturday. I did a few police reports as well and that did not take long.

Monday I came in and did police reports as well as obits. Lana also assigned me to go cover a police training exercise on Tuesday that involved bomb squad dogs.

Tuesday I went down to a local beer distributor where the training was being held. I talked to officers as well as the owner about that they were doing and it was a really interesting story to hear about and write. I got to see the dogs train and how the act when in a situation like that. I went back to the Express and wrote the story and cleared out VNR and obits.

Wednesday I went over to the courthouse and picked up up the local court reports to put in the system. I check obits and VNR as well.

Thursday I checked VNR, Obits, and did police reports.

Friday I did the same.

Saturday I was sent to take some picture of tractor parade that was going on.

[jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog]

Week of 7/8 -7/15

Monday when I came in, Bob told me a I could bump my hours up this week to around 32 or 33. One of the reporters has been out since he had a stroke two weeks ago. Lana sent me over to a bridge that was being repaired to get quick story and a few photos. I came back and wrote a little cut line about that. I then went back and wrote the cut line. I checked VNR and obits for the rest of the day. 

Tuesday I came in and cleared out the VNR as well as put some police reports in.

Wednesday I went to a local water maintenance store that was opening and I interviewed the owner about the upcoming opening of his business. After that I came back to the newsroom and worked on writing that which took a long time only because I honestly could not find a way to water treatment sound interesting. Lana told me that it was just a simple piece that did not need that much to it, so I just made it a brief piece about the owner and the business. I also checked obits.

Thursday Lana took me down to the courthouse to pick up the court results for the week. Since Jim has been out since his stroke, she told me that I am going to be taking care of the court results until he returns. I put those in and checked VNR. Lana did not have a story or assignment for me that day.

Friday I came in early because another reporter had the day off. Bob wanted an extra person there early so I came in at 8:30 instead of 10. I worked on typing up the dean’s list for LHU and putting that in. Lana also assigned me to go to a river fest on Saturday to cover that.

Saturday I went down to the river and covered the river fest. I took pictures and interviewed one of the board members who organized the event. On Sunday I ran over to the Express and wrote the story in an hour and a half.

[jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog]

Week of 7/2 - 7/8

On Monday I came in and worked on obits, but not VNR. Kevin returned to work this week from vacation so he started back up with that. I only had to work until noon that day because the office was closing early for the holiday the next day. Lana sent me to interview the owner of a local shoe store who was closing down, so I went and interviewed him and got done at 1.

Tuesday everyone had off for the Fourth of July.

Wednesday I wrote the story about the shoe store. Lana also had me write a small piece about the local court house getting a pressure wash and the wood redone. Both those stories were available to go in at any point this week.

Thursday I woke up early to go to a salon that had just moved locations and wanted some photos done. Then I went back to the Express to monitor obits and add some final touches to the two stories I wrote the day before.

Friday I did more police reports and obits. I also helped Lana input court releases from the last two weeks.

[jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog]

Week of 6/25-7/1

On Monday I started working with the virtual newsroom(VNR) feature. This is where letters to the editor and press releases are sent. The guy who usually handles this, Kevin, is out on vacation this week. So on Monday I worked with virtual newsroom and  police reports to help. Bob was also out this week, so Lana had me pick up a few extra jobs around the office.

Tuesday again was more of the same. I kept up with VNR and worked with obits and police reports. I was given a couple of things to cover for the week though. The Express had printed out voting ballots a few weeks ago in a past issue for people to vote for their favorite business’s. This is known as the reader’s choice awards, and I was assigned to cover some of the winners and get some responses.

I was selected to cover best bar, best wings, best hair stylist, best hair salon, and best gift shop.I was also assigned to go to Jersey Shore, a town about 15 minutes east of Lock Haven, and interview a new State Farm agent in the area. I was told to do that on Wednesday

Towards the end of Tuesday I went and interviewed the owner of “Unkel Joe’s Woodshed”, the winner of best gift shop. I asked him a few questions but he seemed a little surprised I was there, so I told him I would come back on Wednesday to ask some follow-up questions. I also made contact with Susan Powlus, the winner of best hair stylist and the owner of the salon that won best hair salon. We decided that I would call her on Wednesday and see what time was good for her to be interviewed.

Wednesday I woke and went straight to Jersey Shore, because it was actually closer to me than the Express. I interviewed Jason Eberhart about how and why he got involved with State Farm and what he was looking to do in the area when he takes over. After that I went back to the Express and wrote a feature piece on him. I then called the Beech Creek Hotel, the winner of best restaurant and best wings. The owner was not in and I believe I spoke to a bartender, but I never got a call back from them.

Then I called Susan Powlus and met her at her salon where I interviewed her, and this was probably the most pleasant interview I have had in a long time. We talked about how she got into the business and her history with hair styling. I then went back to “Unkel Joe’s Woodshed” and spoke to the owner with some follow-up questions. I went back to the Express and finished up with VNR.

Thursday I came in and started working once more with VNR, I then wrote both the stories about the Hair Rfinery and “Unkel Joe’s Woodshed” which took a good amount of time. Lana decided to combine my two stories together with another writer, Wendy Stiver. Wendy covered two other business’s who won awards and she wan in charge of combining our stories into one.

Friday I came in expecting to do only VNR and obits, however I was given he assignment of writing a brief story of the end of a local softball teams season. The team made it all the way to the district championship and the sports writers refused to cover it. Lana was so mad at them and called the coach to apologize, so I volunteered to write a piece about their entire season and how awesome it was.  I wrote that quickly and it was set to run the next day. 

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Week of 6/18-6/24

This week was a big week for me because I was covering the Fly-In all week. Last week I had done the preview story and the story on Leah Jones, but now I was actually at the event. Though it did not start until Tuesday, I was able to cover a story on Monday as well.

I went down to the Sentimental Journey office (who operates the Fly-In) and found that an air show pilot, Greg Koontz was there. Koontz was set to perform on Tuesday and Wednesday in a comedy act with his airplane so I decided to do a feature story on him and how he go into the business. I interviewed him and wrote a feature on him that went on the front page the next day.

On Tuesday the Fly-In officially started and I went down around 10:30 and left at 11:30 and then came back at 12:30 to take pictures of Koontz’s air show. When I went around 10:30 I discovered a plane that had just landed and looked really fascinating. It was a Titan Tornado 1, and it was smaller and more interesting than all the other planes in my opinion. I decided to do an on the spot interview with the owner who had just landed and he happily told me his story about getting into flying and building the plane. I wrote a feature on him and it ran on Wednesday.

Wednesday I covered the Fly-In again, but there was not much to cover. I could not find any special pilots or interesting stories, so I wrote a small brief. I talked about how many planes and pilots had showed up for the event. I had originally planned to cover an auction that was set to happen, but it was much smaller than I thought. Plenty of items were up for sale but only about 15 people showed up to the event. I ran the brief though I did not like it.

The piece was short and was not very interesting.

Thursday I worked a long shift, which resulted in a very good story. Bob and I went down to the Kiwanis Club meeting near the Fly-In. I listened on reported on guest speaker Gary Winter tell his story of flying his own plane all the way from Florida to Alaska. I wrote a story about that presentation and it ran the next day.

Bob and I also went to cover a plane that had a blown out engine. We found the plane but no pilot. When I later tried to find the pilot, he was not able to be found.

Friday there was nothing going on at the Fly-In.

[jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog]

Week of 6/11-6/17

On Monday I returned to work after my vacation. I began working on the salute to seniors piece again. I finished implementing all the pictures and worked on some last minutes touch ups. I’m proud of the way that turned out, and I just needed to make a few calls to the local high schools in order to get all the pictures.

On Tuesday I was assigned another story to preview. Next week there is an airplane show and convention in town. It is called the Fly-In and pilots, and their families come from all over the world to come participate in the events of the Fly-In. I went down to their office and interviewed three ladies who help put the event together. I got a calendar of when the events were going to be going on and I started writing a small preview. Next week I will be going back down to the airport and covering the Fly-In everyday.

Wednesday I kept working on the preview for the Fly-In by adding some more information and the calendar of events. It took about two and a half hours to complete but I did finish it and it was supposed to run the next day. I was also assigned to go cover a Flag-raising in honor of veterans in the area. It was Flag Day and Lana (the other editor) asked me to go take photos.

The flag ceremony occurred in Milesburg, which is about half an hour or so west of Lock Haven. I went there and watched the ceremony and took pictures. There was not a chance to interview people, but I did use quotes from the speeches at the ceremony in the article. 

Thursday I went in and wrote the story for the flag raising ceremony. I also checked for obituaries. 

Friday was my favorite day this week. Lana sent me back to the airport where I previewed the Fly-In earlier in the week, to find another feature story that could run on Monday. I found a former pilot of Piper Aviation, She had a lot of great stories and they were great. I went back and wrote the story and I think it is one of the better pieces I have written this summer. It is set to publish on Monday. 

[jeslobosummerinternship2017-blog]

Week of 6/4-6/10

I only worked Sunday through Wednesday this week because I am going on vacation from June 8th-June 11th. But on Sunday I went in and wrote about the graduation I had covered the day before. On June 3rd, I went to cover the graduation of Bald Eagle Area High School, which is oddly enough not where I graduated from.

I took photos and wrote a piece about how the ceremony went.

On Monday I worked more with obituaries and writing a few preview items. The Woolrich Mill tours I wrote about are being previewed soon. Last week I had to preview this event called “Pedal and Paddle”. It is an event going on in a nearby town that involves a biking and kayak trip. I had called the company hosting the event last week, but I wrote it on Monday only because we were in no rush to get it done.

On Tuesday I worked with obituaries again, but also made some last minute adjustments to my two feature stories on local business’s. They got published on Wednesday.

On Wednesday I worked with an update for a story that involved two injured men in a car crash. I also continued my work with the salute to graduates piece. I implemented more photos. That is due to run next Thursday and I am excited to see how that will turn out. Spencer, the layout editor, has to make the photos into tif files rather than jpg. so I just have to wait for him to finish the photos for the other schools and then I can actually finish the project.

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Week of 5/28-6/3

This week was an interesting week as because I did a little bit of everything. I’m still working on those feature stories for those two companies and probably will be working on them up until June 4th or 5th, but they are turning out nicely. Bob has helped me a lot with structuring them better and reminding of AP style guidelines to follow.

On Sunday May 28, I went in at night and had to input police reports and obituaries. Nothing too interesting but I liked learning how to do obituaries.

I also started working on this bit that the Express puts out called “Salute to Seniors”. Basically it is just a couple of pages in the paper that show head shots of seniors from all over the area. I had to go through the layout and put the shots in as well as find the names for all the students. I worked on shots from Bald Eagle Area High School, Central Mountain High School, Bellefonte Area High School, Bucktail Area High School, and Jersey Shore Area High School.

That was my primary duty this week because Bob wanted to get a head start on it, because I had to sit there and put in over 500 pictures and names one by one. That is not being published until June 15, but we are already halfway through and in the past they have not started that until the night before it comes out. 

On Saturday I also covered the graduation ceremony of Bald Eagle Area High School. That piece is coming out next Monday. 

I was also assigned to write a preview story for a local outdoor clothing store this week. Woolrich Outdoor Clothing is having tours of their local mill where they make blankets and I was assigned with getting some general information about it and writing a little preview. 

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Week of 5/21-5/27

There is not a whole lot to say about this week. Bob was out of the office for most of the week so I really was only given two assignments. Most of the week I was just inputting obituaries and police reports.

I was assigned to do two feature stories on local businesses. I interviewed the managers of Action Equipment and Glick Fire Equipment Co. and I am currently writing stories to feature those businesses. Those won’t be published until June 7. This week was not as exciting but I learned a lot about how to operate the system and write feature stories..

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Week of 5/15-5/20

This was my first week of work and it was certainly interesting. The first day I came in was pretty much just an introduction to everything. I sat in on a staff meeting where Bob and Lana discussed assignments for people during the week. I was informed that the next day I would be helping to cover the elections for the county. They showed me how to log on to the system and how to input police reports as well.

Like I said, primarily the first day was just training. The next day I went down to the Garden Building, which is basically where all the county judges and commissioners are and tried to find the results of the school board election. I was covering the school board results for Keystone Central School District. I went back to the newsroom and wrote a story regarding the results of the election. It ran the next day.

There was not much to do on Wednesday, as Bob had assignments for me. So I just put obituaries, and police reports in. I was done in about an hour and a half.

On Thursday I attended a county commissioners meeting with Bob and sat in on that. I was assigned to write a story on how the next week was being named an EMS memorial week. I took pictures and wrote the story, sadly the pictures got corrupted and we were not able to run them.

Friday and Saturday were the busiest days for me as I was covering the Relay for Life. I went on Friday to cover he festivities and interview the head of the event. I got some interviews and took some photos. I sat in on speeches and was there for about 2 or 3 hours. I came back to the newsroom and wrote the story in a a few hours and it was published the next day. On Saturday I went back and got a little more information about the event but nothing worth publishing.