11 interns complete 2021 virtual training

Eleven college students and recent college graduates are headed to editing internships after completing eight days of intensive preparation at the University of Texas at Austin — virtually.

The interns are among a group of undergraduate and graduate students placed in internships in copy editing, business reporting and digital journalism. The program is operated by the Dow Jones News Fund and, for the first time this year, the Texas Press Association.

The Associated Press allowed students to use the wire services for content and instructional material and School Newspapers Online hosted the Southwest Journalist website.

Newspaper professionals, visiting faculty and UT journalism faculty moderated the sessions in this 23rd residency program at UT-Austin.

In the latter half of the pre-internship training, participants produced three issues of a model daily newspaper, the Southwest Journalist, as well as a companion online and social media product, swjournalist.com.

Check out the first issue of The Southwest Journalist! It’s my first time designing, and I was fortunate enough to design the front page! @SWJournalist @DJNF https://t.co/LI9fTffmJ8

— JJ Kim (@JJKimSports) June 3, 2021

Last night I practiced designing a #BreakingNews story! On deadline I accessed the #whitehouse archives to include a photo of the #Bush family. Check it out! @SWJournalist #djnfEdit21 https://t.co/hvLvpNr6Nn pic.twitter.com/xJDSRU7n9b

— Abigail Russ (@AbbyORuss) June 3, 2021

The UT-News Fund interns serve internships of 10 to 12 weeks. Grants from the News Fund and contributions from participating news organizations cover the participants’ training. This year, for the second time, the training was held virtually, using more than eight hours of classroom instruction and production per day via Zoom and Google Hangouts. The internships themselves will also be virtual.

Beth Butler and Bradley Wilson served as co-directors of the workshop with assistance from Kathleen McElroy, director of the UT School of Journalism, and Angela Martinez, administrative associate.

Faculty also included Mark Grabowski, associate professor at Adelphi University and Griff Singer, retired senior lecturer at the University of Texas School of Journalism and former director of the Center for Editing Excellence.

The 2021 participants, their schools and their internship assignments are as follows:

• Lauryn Azu, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Chicago Tribune
• Caleigh Bartash, University of Maryland, Stars & Stripes
• Lilly Chandler, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Hill Country News
• Emily G. Eddins, Texas A&M University, Tyler County Booster
• JJ Kim, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, San Francisco Chronicle
• Megan Menchaca, University of Texas at Austin, Houston Chronicle
• Kaylee Pippins, Tarleton State University, Azle News
• Gabriella Ruiz, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Pleasanton Express
• Abigail Russ, University of Maryland, Patch.com
• Jason Sanchez, Cal State-Fullerton, Los Angeles Times
• Jennifer Zhan, Northwestern University, San Francisco Chronicle

Guest speakers included:

• Erin Ailworth, Midwest reporter, The Wall Street Journal, [email protected] 
• Shirley Carswell, executive director, Dow Jones News Fund, [email protected] 
• Ken Cooke, publisher, Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post
• Rod Hicks, director of ethics and diversity, Society of Professional Journalists
• Mike Hodges, executive director, Texas Press Association
• Corrie MacLaggan, statewide managing editor for the public radio stations of The Texas Newsroom
• Kathleen McElroy, director, University of Texas School of Journalism and G.B. Dealey Regents Professor in Journalism
• Yvonne Mintz, editor and publisher, The Facts (Clute, Texas)
• Krissah Thompson, managing editor of diversity and inclusion, The Washington Post
• Paul Weber, Austin-based reporter, Associated Press