UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Thirteen students from colleges and universities across the country will converge on Penn State for an eight-day editing “boot camp” beginning May 25, with the intensive session designed to prepare the students for internships facilitated by the Dow Jones News Fund at a variety of news organizations this summer.
John Dillon, the Norman Eberly Professor of Practice in Journalism in the College of Communications, will facilitate the training session — one of four centers for editing excellence as part of a Dow Jones News Fund effort to train and send 97 undergraduate and graduate students to work as data and digital journalists, business reporters and news editors in paid internships at 49 of the nation’s leading news organizations. More than 900 students applied for the internships last fall.
Other instructors and presenters at the Penn State camp include: Steve Bien-Aime, a doctoral candidate in the College of Communications; Curtis Chan, a manager in the University’s Office of Strategic Communications; Curt Chandler, a senior lecturer of journalism; Bill Connolly, a longtime copy editor for The New York Times; and Rich Holden, former executive director of the Dow Jones News Fund.
Students attending the training session (listed with their home universities and their internship assignments) are:
- Peter Bailey-Wells, University of Illinois, Roanoke (Virginia) Times;
- Taylor Bello, University of Florida, Stuart (Florida) News/Journal Media Group;
- Ryan Clancy, East Carolina University, Tampa Bay Times;
- Melina Delkic, Georgetown University, The Journal News in White Plains, New York;
- Valerie Hellinghausen, University of Missouri, Newsday;
- Joseph McCarty, University of Nebraska, Buffalo (New York) News;
- Ian Morse, Lafayette College, The Journal News in White Plains, New York;
- Denny Nett, University of North Carolina, Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch;
- Carl Pietrusinski, Penn State, New Britain (Connecticut) Herald;
- Laura Schinagle, University of Michigan, Hartford (Connecticut) Courant;
- Anagha “Ana” Srikanth, American University, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot;
- Ryan Vasicek, University of Illinois, Naples (Florida) Daily News; and
- Ida Sophie Winter, University of Missouri, Buffalo (New York) News.
Once the students complete their training they will work for at least 10 weeks at salaries starting at $400 per week. Those returning to college receive $1,000 scholarships.
Along with Pietrusinski, three other Penn State students were selected for the program. Zack Green and Garrett Ross will serve as copy desk interns at The New York Times after completing their training at Temple University, and Tyler DiSalle will intern at the Memphis Commercial Appeal after training at the University of Missouri.