Flexibility

Stephen Buckley, dean of faculty at the Poynter Institute, spoke with us today about the top four things we should think about as we head into our internships. What struck me was his advice on being flexible with what we write. If there's no position open on the sports desk, he suggested taking other news beats for experience. At my last internship, I was supposed to be a general assignment writer. I ended up specializing in business, a topic I have always been scared to write about. I assumed, wrongly, that business writing was all numbers, stats, calculations, etc. But in reality, some of my business stories were my best clips.

Lesson learned. Something I was afraid of was something I actually came to enjoy and learn the most from. This summer, I'm specializing in sports. What this means is that next year when I apply for jobs after graduation, I have several specialities that I'm more than familiar with.