It’s the start of a new school year and that means Civil Beat has a new crop of interns. And a couple of “old” ones who are sticking around for another year.
This is the second year of our in-depth training program that aims to help develop young journalists here in the islands. We’re a small state with only a handful of media organizations that have the capacity to take on reporters who basically need to learn our craft from scratch. So we’re delighted that — with the support of key donors — we can offer meaningful training to a few young people who have the journalism bug.
The inaugural program included four interns — Natanya Friedheim, Courtney Teague, Caleb Hartsfield and Noelle Fujii. Noelle left us for a permanent position at Hawaii Business magazine part way through the program, but that’s the whole point, right?
Olivia Peterkin and Annabelle Le Jeune, foreground, are Civil Beat’s 2017-18 reporting interns.
Anthony Quintano/Civil Beat
Whatever Happened To … ?
We also hosted three short-term interns this summer. Blaze Lovell, a Pearl City High grad, returned to the University of Nevada Las Vegas for his senior year this fall. Emily Cardinali went back to her grad school program at the University of Hawaii. And Shannon Paylor, our Dow Jones News Fund data intern, returned to the mainland and a full-time job as a data analyst at a private company in North Carolina.
Back here in the newsroom, Natanya and Courtney have done exceptionally well and we’re pleased to promote them to reporting fellows. These year-long positions are designed to continue the professional development of promising journalists. And yes, they get a raise, benefits and paid vacation.
As interns, they served as general assignment reporters with a focus on a particular urban area.
As fellows, they have the opportunity to drill down in an area of particular interest. Natanya will be tackling homelessness and housing along with more general Honolulu city government and Oahu-based stories. Courtney will cover state government, including being a steady presence at the Legislature, along with social issues and trends in Hawaii.
Courtney Teague, left, and Natanya Friedheim are sticking around another year as reporting fellows.
Anthony Quintano/Civil Beat
Caleb drew quite a following this past year as our resident cartoonist and illustrator, including providing artistic commentary to our editorials as a member of the Civil Beat Editorial Board. But he chose love over Civil Beat (go figure) and left us last month to move with his girlfriend to California while she continues her education at a fine arts college there.
But Caleb’s not disappearing from Civil Beat. He is turning his artist’s eye toward what it’s like to be a Hawaii boy in L.A. “The Long Vacation” is a new cartoon series he’ll be producing regularly to bring us folks back home along as he discovers life as a stranger in a strange land.
Check out the first installment today. You can still reach Caleb at chartsfield@civilbeat.org. Or leave a comment at the bottom of his pieces.
Our New Crew
We’re starting the fall with two new reporting interns and, for the first time, a podcasting fellow.
First, here’s the scoop on the interns.
A graduate of Farrington High School, Olivia Peterkin graduated in May with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and international peace studies from the University of Missouri. She spent the summer as an intern at the Memphis Commercial Appeal in Tennessee before returning home.
Annabelle Le Jeune is finishing up two degrees — one in journalism, one in English — at the University of Hawaii. She anticipates graduating in December. Born and raised in Miami, she was attracted to Hawaii after graduating high school and has lived in Honolulu for the past four years.
Olivia and Annabelle are participating in our “urban immersion” program, a curriculum framed around a particular neighborhood or two they’ll get to know well in the next year. They’ll produce stories on local government, transportation, development, education, cops, courts, politics and elections, business and, perhaps most importantly, the communities themselves.
Olivia will cover Kalihi, where she grew up, and Waikiki; Annabelle picked Waimanalo and Kaimuki.
Podcasting has proven to be so popular we’ve added a podcasting intern. Meet Emily Dugdale.
Anthony Quintano/Civil Beat
We also have our first podcasting fellow.
Emily Dugdale is a recent graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She earned her reporting stripes covering local news and government accountability issues as an intern and freelancer for multiple publications in the San Francisco Bay area. She joined Civil Beat after spending the summer chasing down stories about science and the environment for KPCC Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles.
For the second year, the George Mason Fund, part of the Hawaii Community Foundation, has contributed $10,000 to support the internship program. That brings its support to $20,000. The Atherton Family Foundation has also made a substantial investment – a portion of its two-year, $50,000 grant to Civil Beat will support the program.
Additional funders who help support the intern program include: the Alexander & Baldwin Kokua Fund, the Cades Foundation, and the Gloria Kosasa Gainsley Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation.
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