We're halfway there (again!)

I cannot think of another song that talks about being halfway there other than the Big Time Rush banger, so yes, I am using it as a blog post title again.

It is hard to believe that I am already halfway through this internship. It feels like I started yesterday, and it is bittersweet that my time as an intern at The Trib will be done before I know it. Time is surely flying by, but I have learned so many things in this short time and am excited for the remaining weeks.

Monday was a catch up day, as I only worked a few hours last Friday. I kind of like my remote days at the beginning of the week, giving me a chance to plan for the week ahead. I answered some emails and set up interviews. I also continued working on the national standardized testing scores story, trying to reach local superintendents, which is very hard and nearly impossible during the summer, especially now at peak vacation time.

On Tuesday, I was back at the North Shore. I continued reaching out to local superintendents and tried to finish my story. The majority of my day was spent on trying to contact superintendents from the Valley News Dispatch area, as my editors wanted the story to include sources from all areas of publication, but again, it was so difficult because of summer. I also spoke with a local historical society and wrote up a short story on an event they are having soon. I worked on some other miscellaneous things for other future stories. I also did some research on two upcoming stories. One is about a veteran getting a free new roof through a project, and the other is a feature on a local church and their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Wednesday was a pretty interesting day, as I got to work at the main office in Tarentum. We had an intern lunch, so I was able to do my work from there. It was pretty cool to work in a different environment. The newsroom was a bit busier than Greensburg's, and it was nice to be around more interns as well. Everyone was super nice and friendly, and it was nice to see some of the people I met during my trip to the office in April. I finished my story on the conservation project at the old St. Xavier academy and continued trying to reach local superintendents.

Thursday was easily the best day of my internship so far. I got to shadow reporters from The Trib in the overflow and court rooms for the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting trial. There are no words for the overall experience; it truly was mind blowing. Being able to physically attend a court proceeding was great for expanding my portfolio and building my skills, but it was so bittersweet and hard because of the case. It was great to talk with the reporters about how they have been trying to care for themselves mentally throughout this entire process. I hope to be able to do more court reporting in the future, but also to show empathy with victims in a case through my reporting.

Here is the story that I helped with reporting from the trial:

'I think he was blatantly psychotic,' psychologist says of Pittsburgh synagogue attacker