McClure Musings: Completing an internship during a pandemic

SCUGOG: Although my internship with The Standard did not turn out how I expected, due to COVID-19, it was a valuable experience. Overall, the time I spent working as an intern went fairly well. I was fortunate enough to have access to internet that works, most of the time, and a cell phone to call people whenever I needed to interview them. A new skill I learned was completing interviews via email. At first, I was opposed to conducting interviews through email, because of what I learned in school. Of course, I still prefer to do in-person interviews or over the phone interviews, as those two methods are the best ways, to get complete information and to ask follow-up questions. It was different from what I was used to doing during school, and I expected to be working in an actual newsroom and going out to cover events in person, that wasn’t the case. So, I made do with what I could. Working as an intern during the Covid-19 pandemic was completely out of the blue, not to mention so was working online. Being at home most of the time was nothing new for me, but I had expected to be working in a newsroom. A difficulty I had was getting people to reply to me within a timely manner, so I could meet my deadlines. But I learned to be flexible and work with my general manager and editor, keeping them updated with what was going on. Working online and from home was a bit of a challenge. Coming from a rural community, the internet around here isn’t the best, and with having a lot of other people working from home as well, the internet connection is even slower. My experience, working as an intern during a pandemic, wasn’t negative, and I would have enjoyed a more hands-on learning experience, to end off the school year, however, I am glad I completed my college experience in such an unusual way.