Daily Journal interns

And the Daily Journal internship program was launched. Interns continued to do data entry and also wrote a weekly column, then called Teen News. I think it was 2007 that we landed on Student News as a name and that stuck.

So now, every year starting in April, I interview students interested in journalism and looking to get some real world experience beyond their high school news room experience. From about 20-25 interested applicants, we hire around five interns who take a one-hour shift one day a week after school. They have shifted to typing up police reports, which is work a staffer could easily do but it gives them experience with translating police code and jargon, Associated Press style and news judgment. They get to be in the newsroom and engage in our conversations about the stories we are working on, current events and whatever happens to interest us. Sometimes that thing that interests us is something the intern is working on at their school paper, or just some random tidbit. The experience provides a window into a working newspaper, that is both extremely different but also sometimes eerily similar to the academic setting to which they are accustomed. Life is like high school, I always say.

Interns also try out to be one of our Student News columnists that appear every weekend.

Many of these pieces are extremely powerful and interesting. We are lucky to have had so many talented writers grace our pages in the weekend edition. They give us a view into the interests and observations of our local high school students, and we can share that with you, our readers.

Over the years, we have seen around 100 high school students walk through these doors — and I still keep in touch with many of them and hear of marriages, careers and even their children. And I know the day will come when a child of a former intern will want to intern.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the high school advisors who have been so steady and good to us in ensuring we have a good crop of student candidates every year — Melissa Murphy from Burlingame High School, Justin Raisner from Carlmont High School and Scott Silton from Aragon High School. They are superstars in their own right for taking what could be a thankless and extremely difficult job — high school journalism advisor — and corralling passionate, talented and energetic youth into producing high-quality, interesting, timely and award-winning news publications. Our school communities are lucky to have them. We do get candidates from other schools, and would like to see more, but programs really benefit from advisors like Murphy, Raisner and Silton, and their sustained and consistent leadership.

We also have provided college-level internships for years, and many of our reporters have come from these ranks. Others have filled newsrooms all over the nation. Skyline College has been a good source of interns, and its advisor Nancy Kaplan-Biegel has done an excellent job in ensuring the community college district retains its legacy of a school publication.

To me, these relationships show journalism education is alive and well, thriving even, and that project-based learning from producing and presenting news stories is an essential part of our school system. I am happy to play a small part in that.

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This year, the Daily Journal’s 25th, I’ve been writing a series of columns about the people who make the paper what it is. Two weeks ago, I wrote about our columnists, and of course, forgot a few. Blame the weather, or old age, or something.

So extra, extra … Annie Tsai has provided her unique mix of business savvy, world awareness and community immersion since 2023. We are lucky to have her.

We are also lucky to have such good reviewers: Judy Richter with her theater reviews, David Bratman with his music reviews, Cheri Lucas with her book reviews and Eve Visconti with her movie reviews.

And of course our conservative columnists, Jonathan Madison, John McDowell and Matt Grocott, who boldly took stances that weren’t always popular with all of our readers, but that resonated with many.

And we could use one more columnist, so reach out if interested.