We're *Over* Halfway There

This time imagine reading the title to the Big Time Rush hit "Halfway There." Anyways, I completed my sixth week of my internship this week. Again, this week was not short of any entertainment and experiences. Only four more weeks left to go.

Walking into the week, I started with checking my emails like always and was greeted to some comments from our assistant editor about how I have been uploading pictures and publishing my work online, which then led me to fixing all of my content throughout the internship so far, editing small section details. I also struggled with an interviewee, as we needed better art for the story and there was confusion over what kind of photos were usable. After this, I edited and updated my portfolios for my website, LinkedIn, and Handshake, adding in content from this internship.

On Tuesday, my editor and supervisor came back from his vacation, and I was expecting the office to be a little chaotic, but I had two assignments waiting for me when I arrived, both dealing with a recent tax increase for a local school. I did some background research on the district's taxes past to formulate better questions for school board members and the superintendent, which I also had to search for their contact information. As I worked later in the afternoon, I did not get many responses, but tomorrow is another day. I also went over my last few stories with one of the page layout people to go over some fine tuning edits.

Wednesday was filled with dead-end phone calls, as I kept getting the voicemail for the superintendent, school board members, and the administrative assistant of a local school that passed their next year's school budget, resulting in a large tax increase and raise for the superintendent. I was able to talk with a few school board members that voted no for these issues to get some quotes, but nothing yet from the other side. I also called the Mercer County 911 Supervisor because a bunch of firetruck sirens went off by the office, and my editor wanted to see what that was about. However, the Supervisor said it was nothing, so there was no story there. It was an interesting experience because I have never called 911 before, let alone a supervisor for it.

On Thursday, I continued to work on my two stories about a local school's budget for next school year, which resulted in a tax increase and a raise for the superintendent. I continued to call and reach out to sources, but go no response, so I really had to make it worth with what little information I received from board meeting agendas, minuets, and the two board members who were willing to speak with me. I then went to the school's central office to get the exact number of the superintendent's raise. Check out the tax increase story here! We also had a reporter's meeting today to touch base with what everyone is working on and to catch up the editor, as he is still adjusting from coming back from a long vacation. I also got to work on the obituaries section with one of the reporters.