At Animas High school, every Junior must find themselves a internship with an organization that they wish to practice and better their skills, or expand their interests in. This is known as Leading Internships for New Knowledge, or LINK and is a program in which students spend three weeks to interact in a work environment and developing skills for potential careers in the future. This opportunity gives AHS students a sense of responsibility and chance to thrive in a professional setting.
"The Independent"
"The Independent", located up at Fort Lewis College is a news organization that's managed by FLC students. The students that are apart of this organization produce publications of bi-weekly prints, magazines, and breaking news and coverage. Within this group, there are several departments that work together: The departments include reporting, online, video production, art, copy edits, advertising, events, marketing and public relations, and finances.
Originally, I had contacted two professors from Fort Lewis College that taught the Native American & Indigenous Studies, and one professor from the Department of Art & Design. This was before LINK confirmations were needed. Along the way, I learned the Art professor was not available, and only one of the Native American Studies professor emailed me back, and later confirmed an internship with them. I thought I had my LINK internship then, and decided to start a confirmation paper and turn it in. I did this, and then later my soon to be mentor passively backed out, not facing me and telling me that they were unable to follow through this internship. This led onto a long chase and run of emails where they sent many messages, until eventually I had grown irritated with the lack of advocacy on their end, and terminated my 'internship' with them. While at the same time during this conversation, I reached out to "The Independent's" Editor in Chief, Alex Semadeni who later accepted me as an intern with their organization. This was perfectly timed, since once I'd established an internship with "The Independent", I was able to leave behind a mentor that was unable to advocate and plan with me.
Challenges
Communication is key, and I believe that's what both parties lacked, alongside honesty and the mishaps of scheduling. This was the only challenges, or frustrations that I faced when trying to establish an internship with my first mentor, besides having to contact individuals who could not follow through. There was no communication on their ends on to tell me they were unavailable, only passive emails or no response. However, after I'd secured my LINK with "The Independent", I didn't face any challenges like I did before. Instead, I was met with quick responses from the Editor in Chief, who was very keen on advocacy, that I actually found it hard for me to reach out to him because of it. Later on, we would work out the details of my internship, what I wanted out of it, what we could do, and how he and "The Independent" could support me. This was when I begun to come across some minor challenges of meeting new people, such as the Indy staff, and if I would be able to meet my hours to pass my LINK because I ended learning that "The Independent" met once every week.
Why Did I Choose "The Independent"?
I chose "The Independent" for my internship to explore more on the side of writing and journalism. I've always had a strong set of skills when it came to writing, and I wanted to test if whether this was something I'd want to pursue later in life. Prior to my internship, I had already known about "The Independent" and their organization from the past years and had gained interest in their work. With the opportunity to reach out to them for my LINK, I wanted to explore more on my future experience that their organization could provide about how the news world operates. From this opportunity, I wanted nothing more than have my LINK internship with "The Independent" because the students who worked within it specialized in different departments, supporting a variety of skills and knowledge that I could learn.
What Do I Hope To Gain?
I hoped that from this experience, I would learn basic skills that could improve my own as a writer, such as writing non bias articles/essays, editing, and learning how to interview on a professional level. In the past, I had conducted my own interviews for essays and films I'd previously produced, but I hadn't known any skills to properly prepare me each time, such as questions. I hoped that from "The Independent", I could learn how to interview and be prepared every time.
What Do I Hope To Bring?
I hoped to bring my own skills regarding my own style of writing so I'm able to quickly start working on articles, if given the opportunity to write/report for "The Independent". I'd also hoped to bring my attentiveness to detail and instruction so I'm able to listen to directions, and skills as an artist if "The Independent" were in need of any artistic visual pieces.
What Mark Will I Leave?
At the end, I hoped that my presence would change up "The Independent's" routine in a positive way, and I would leave with a mark on the organization/individuals that I, a high school student has already thought of their future and advocated for an opportunity to explore more on their interest, such as "The Independent".
LINK Project
Navajo Philosophy "The Hózhó Way"
For my LINK project, I wanted to incorporate the topic my Humanities class was focusing on regarding philosophy, and mix the knowledge I was learning in Jessicas class with the skills I learned from "The Independent". I studied a Navajo philosophy, "The Hózhó Way", that is a lifestyle and mindset taught by Diné people. This philosophy focuses on all living life and the balance and harmony that pertains to everyone and everything. I originally wanted to attempt interviewing Native American students at Fort Lewis College, but once I'd finished my internship, students were graduating and leaving for their break. Ultimately, I wrote an article that explained in detail the depth and meaning of this philosophy, as well as my own experiences regarding "The Hózhó Way", because I'm Navajo and live by this philosophy. Separately, I created a supportive art piece made from a canvas and acrylic paints, and I made a artistic representation of how I interpreted this Navajo philosophy while incorporating key visual components.
LINK Reflection
Skills & Abilities
The most important skills I developed during LINK were how to report, take notes, and conduct interviews and prepare beforehand. From my short experience at "The Independent", I was put into the reporting department and from there on I learned how to report. I shadowed the lead reporter of "The Independent", Benjamin Mandile, and learned tips when interviewing, such as recording the conversation to later turn into a transcript/notes to work off from to create an article. I learned from my mentor how to write questions when interviewing people, like including questions that may not be obvious. From these new skills, I was able to practice them all when I was given the opportunity to work on two articles. I was given a topic to cover Fort Lewis Colleges theater program and their recent play that concentrated on Native American issues. Their play was called 'I'm Native And.' This was an amazing experience, and because I was able to relate with it on a very personal level, I wanted to really prove that I could use the skills the Indy taught me, to create a professionally written article. As I worked as a reporter, I was able to write how I wanted the article to look with guidance from my mentor, and I decided to conduct an interview type to capture the full depth of the cast and story of how 'I'm Native And' came to be. I later used the skill and knowledge of recording a conversation while in a meeting held by the student body of FLC, which I had written an article about.
Challenges
I faced few challenges but my main issue was managing time. I was mainly worried about getting te amount of hours for my LINK while also gaining enough experience from 'The Independent.' As a result, I stressed for the first few weeks of my internship because I didn't have anything to work with, and I depended entirely on the weekly meetings that occurred only on Mondays that only lasted for an hour or less. However, I was able to grow from this by counting the hours I could work outside of the Indy once I had been given tasks to do, such as writing, and attending the college for various reasons (ex. events, stories). Advocacy was something I have struggled with and it certainly didn't help my situation, but I felt that I did a good job at finding things to do by checking in with my mentor and my peers to ask if they needed any help. At one point during my internship, I was able to volunteer to help the Independent during the Hozhoni day powwow FLC had held, which was an amazing experience.
Why Was My Internship Important?
I feel that with my presence at the Independent overall was something new to not only myself, but perhaps the people who worked there, and although I wasn't able to publish my work onto their site, my contribution to some stories and events that they held was still worth it to me. I believe that in the future, The Independent should accept high school interns in the case of my internship having left an impact on new experiences for everyone involved. This experience was not only great for me in recognizing that writing and reporting was something I held a strong skill in, but if this organization were to accept future interns, it would give the opportunities to future students to experience and realize if journalism is what they want to pursue.
Next Steps
From interning at 'The Independent', I learned new and strengthened old skills I'd already had, and from this experience, I was able to gain a perspective of writing from a different outlook. I didn't know that in writing organizations that business was incorporated into it, or that there were designated roles besides editors and reporters. I also found the time I spent with my mentor when he had tasks for me to do was fun, and I enjoyed learning from him and others as everyone in "The Independent" were very skilled in their roles. I enjoyed being able to write for the colleges student led organization, because in the end, I was able to understand that writing is something I enjoy. Coming into this internship, I stressed a lot over meeting new people, especially my mentor, who was the Editor in Chief of "The Independent", and meeting him alone at the beginning was stressful enough. I also worried about meeting the Indy team after, and I felt extremely pressured about not having a positive experience because of it, however it ended up not playing out negatively. I did have my ups and downs, but I learned to overcome them and embrace the challenges, because the outcome could be worth it in the end.
In this case, I'm glad that I had the opportunity of interning under 'The Independent', and I'll always be grateful to my mentor for taking the time out from his schedule to guide me along the ways of writing. What I've taken away from this experience will most definitely benefit me, because with the skills I learned, writing can be incorporated into anything, whether it be for a script, article, or essay. I also feel that with the experience of reporting and writing, this might be something I may pursue in college. Overall, I don't think that from my Junior year, anything can top this.