How She Got That Internship: Katie’s Internship At The National Journalism Center

How She Got That Internship is a series that highlights conservative women’s internships in various organizations and positions to inspire the next generation of conservative women to lead. Did you, or a young woman that you know, have an internship experience you want to share with our readers? Submit it in this form and we will contact you if we think it would be a great fit for the series. 

Summer is perhaps the best time for young leaders to invest in themselves by gaining valuable work experience, namely through internships. As summer comes to a close and fall looms ahead, FFL is sitting down with a number interns to reflect on this year’s highlights and encourage more young leaders to apply for next year’s internships!

Katie is graduate of Regent University with a B.A. in English and Government Class of 2017. She is also a graduate of the National Journalism Center, Summer ‘18. Katie is currently seeking full-time employment the D.C. area.

 

How did you find out about the position, and why did you decide to apply?

 

I found out about the internship as I have several friends who had interned for NJC in previous years. I decided to apply because I was highly encouraged to by a close friend who had interned with NJC previously and highly recommended the program. Furthermore, I had been graduated for several months and was still struggling to find employment in my chosen field in the D.C. area. Lastly, NJC is a significantly prestigious program in Journalism especially in the D.C. area and graduates of NJC had gone on to work at well-known and respected publications in journalism.

What was the driving force behind choosing to work at as a National Journalism Center intern?

The main driving force behind choosing to work as an NJC intern was to use the internship as a launching pad for my journalism career and the opportunity to move to the D.C. area.

Have you interned before? If so, where?

No, this was my first internship.

Describe a typical day at your internship. 

The way that the NJC internship works is a bit different. Each intern accepted into the program is placed at a different media outlet in the D.C. area. We spend Monday-Thursday at our placements and on Fridays we are at YAF headquarters in Reston, VA for speakers and other programming. On a typical day at my placement, I would arrive at the office by 9 am, and I usually tried to be there 10-15 minuets early. I would spend the first hour reading the news of the day and composing a list of story pitches for my editor. I tried to get my first pitch to my editor no later than 10:15. Once the pitch was approved, I would write the story in Word and then copy and paste into our online portal. I would read over the post several times to check for editorial errors, before informing my editor that my post was ready for her to edit. She would send me any edits necessary and then make the edits and schedule for posting. On an average day, I would write 2-3 stories. Sometimes, my day would include going out in the field to report on events. In addition to writing 2-3 stories a day, I also scheduled up to 5 videos to post on the website throughout the day as well as editing and posting columns submitted by our columnists, and moderating comments. 

On Fridays, I was at YAF headquarters in Reston, VA with my NJC colleagues where we would hear from various speakers in journalism and politics. Occasionally, we would go into the city for a field trip or fun activity rather than hear speakers on Friday.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of working for the National Journalism Center?

By far the most rewarding aspect of the NJC internship is the relationships that I formed. I have truly met the greatest people I have ever known in this class. Not only are they incredibly smart and talented people who will go on to rock the journalism world to its very core, but they are just good people. Past classes have testified to the strong bond that is NJC. I have friends who went through the program a few years before I did, and they still talk to their friends from their NJC class. I can honestly say that I have met my best friends in this internship and I know, these friendships will last a lifetime.

What was the biggest WOW moment of your internship?

That’s hard to say I had so many WOW moments during my internship. If I had to pick just one I would probably say getting to sit in the Paul Manafort trial during the second day of the trial, and getting to cover the trial as real, on the ground journalist.

Looking back over your time in the internship, what’s been the most valuable lesson you’ve learned as a result of your time working for the National Journalism Center?

I’ve learned so many valuable lessons it’s hard to pick. I think my most valuable lesson was to take advantage of every opportunity to pitch events and do real, on-the ground, in the field reporting. Depending on your placement, you might not have to ask sometimes, they will just send you. But at other placements, 9 times out of 10 they aren’t going to send you into the field, you have to ask to go. It can be very intimidating as a young reporter to stand as part of a gaggle with other seasoned journalists and ask questions, but that experience is invaluable. Once you break the wall and do it once, it gets so much easier. 

Would you apply to work at the National Journalism Center again, and what advice would you give to future applicants?

I would most assuredly apply to work at NJC again! Interning there was one of the best experiences of my life and I got to work with some of the greatest colleagues I have ever known. For future applicants, proofread your cover letter and resume very carefully.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Interning for the National Journalism Center was the greatest experience of my life to date! I was given some amazing opportunities that I would not have otherwise been available to me otherwise, both through my placement and the NJC program. The NJC internship is an incredible experience and extremely professionally run program. I highly recommend the program for aspiring journalists.

To read more from the How She Got That Internship series, click here.

How She Got That Internship is a series that highlights conservative women’s internships in various organizations and positions to inspire the next generation of conservative women to lead. Did you, or a young woman that you know, have an internship experience you want to share with our readers? Submit it in this form and we will contact you if we think it would be a great fit for the series.