Home Page

Opinion

Meet our summer intern

Editorís note: ECM Publishers offers associates a parenting leave to care for children up to age three. Our reporter Danielle Strenke has opted to take that leave this summer to be with her young children and we have hired an intern, John Behling, to fill in for her.
John will be working on sports and recreation news, business of the week and feature stories. Heíll be around for all the summer festivals, too, so smile when you see him with his camera.
Now, hereís John to tell you a little about himself.
I was born in St. Paul but raised in Forest Lake, attending Central Junior High and Forest Like High School. I played a variety of sports but focused mainly on wrestling. After graduating I was accepted at St. Cloud State University, where I am currently approaching my junior year. Iíve declared a major of creative writing with a film studies minor.
My most expensive addiction is movies, but recently Iíve been able to avoid most of the cost by becoming a film critic. Since December 2001 Iíve been writing film reviews for the University Chronicle, St. Cloudís student newspaper. This position has helped me hone my writing skills, while at the same time celebrate something that I love (and of course see movies for free).
I was offered the diversions editor position at the Chronicle by my former editor at the end of fall semester. I accepted the position and underwent a crash course in everything from desktop publishing to copy editing to news reporting. Luckily, I learn well by doing and seem to have a pension for stress and deadlines.
I will resume that position after my internship at the Post Review concludes and hope to bring this experience back to my publication. Personally Iím hoping to gain both a greater understanding of the real world work environment of a journalist and a greater understanding of community journalism.
Iíve discovered that the best thing about community reporting is discovering a townís identity. Itís refreshing that there is still some thread of regionality and individuality in a country that is getting more and more homogenized. Iím looking forward to discovering North Branchís identity and to meeting the community.

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com