NEW BEGINNINGS: Covering the Barnegat Light Ocean Mile Swim in late July was an eye-opening experience. (Photos by David Biggy)
I remember jumping up from my desk chair when I saw the email from the New Jersey Press Foundation offering me a summer internship at The SandPaper. I had been obsessively checking my inbox for weeks and I’m still so happy to have received such an incredible offer. Seriously, $20 to anyone who can think of a cooler place to spend the summer.
Now I’m almost done with my time at The SandPaper and my first piece of journalism in the real world, I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by. As I write this and try to recall the successes and challenges of the past few months, it feels like a blip, but I’m sure the lessons I learned from this experience will be at the forefront of my journalistic endeavors for years to come, whether I realize it or not.
The lessons began on my first day at SandPaper, when I made the unwise decision at the summer staff meeting to badmouth my professional mini-golf boss, David Biggy, and eventually challenge him to a seven-game series at five different locations. As many of you already know, that was a huge mistake. He effortlessly swept me off the course, not 4-0, but 7-0, so I would never forget my place. I begged Biggy for mercy, putter on my knee, and he stared silently through me as if to say, “You’re going to know real pain.”
MAKING PROGRESS: When covering sports, in this case high school volleyball, it became clear that some sports were easier to handle than others.
My other boss, Gina G. Scala, specifically told me never to tell Biggy he was right about anything because it would go to his head so quickly. But I’m sorry, Gina, I have to admit defeat on this one.
As for the actual work, I had a blast covering local news and sports outside of my usual bubble at Rider University, and I got to write some pretty neat articles too. Perhaps my most important lesson came early on, when I learned that the term “regatta” had absolutely nothing to do with cheese and I had signed up for something completely different. I’m still processing that.
But to be honest, my internship wasn’t always rosy and straightforward. In fact, it was by far my most challenging journalism experience, in ways I didn’t expect.
About halfway through my internship, I met Gina and Biggy at Woodies Drive-In for lunch and a sort of check-up. Things had been going well up until that point, but as the summer progressed, I began to feel nervous and overwhelmed, and felt like I was missing out on valuable opportunities to improve. I had trouble connecting with sources, stories were falling through and piling up, and the inconvenience of living over an hour away from all the action certainly didn’t help. I began to doubt myself as a journalist and the qualifications that had gotten me the internship in the first place.
GETTING AHEAD: The first official assignment in May – sitting in the audience during the Shore Conference baseball tournament at Southern Regional High School.
We talked for about an hour, and during that conversation I learned some lessons that I’ve remembered almost every day since then. These included the importance of building relationships and talking to people face-to-face, and the fact that journalism is often a frustrating profession simply because of its natural reliance on communication.
There will always be sources you never hear from and stories you never get to, Biggy told me, and it’s OK to sometimes drop difficult stories in favor of better, more current leads. But it’s just as important to be persistent and not let availability dictate what gets reported, Gina added. If a source is difficult and it’s a story worth telling, show up at their door, literally or figuratively, with your notebook and press pass and let them negotiate with you.
After our conversation, I felt more motivated, my stories improved in the weeks that followed, and I can confidently say that I will be a stronger journalist and professional in the future thanks to that one conversation we had between delicious food. (Thanks, guys.)
BAD MOVE: Mistakes are part of the learning process and it is not recommended to challenge a professional minigolf player on his lawn.
I naively thought this internship would simply be an opportunity to strengthen my skills as a writer and reporter and see how I stacked up against long-time professional journalists. Little did I expect that I would leave this internship feeling more confident and capable, both on the job and personally.
I’m so grateful to have worked at one of the coolest places in the world. There aren’t many jobs where you get to play seven games of mini golf with your boss, even if it’s a historic win that will stay with you for decades.
Thanks to all the SandPeepers who helped me out this summer – my sincere thanks to Gina and Biggy for all their time and energy – and thanks to LBI for just making it so damn fun to cover this summer.
In the words of Robert Hunter: “Make it too/ Without love in your dreams/ It will never come true.”
