Hill Country News for the week

Interning at Hill Country News last week wasn’t like anywhere else—it was like interning everywhere, not just spent in the office, but out and about. Journalism itself is unlike anywhere else because of the sheer determination and work that it takes, the thick-skin that it takes to succeed and the willingness to succeed that is a must for any budding journalist. Cookies, state capitol tours, motorbike riders and airplane flyers all presented themselves once or twice in my week there. As a young journalist in the field, I wasn’t originally sure what was expected of me, but instead of shadowing the staff writers or watching the editor-in-chief, I became a member of the staff itself, entrusted with the same expectations and responsibilities as everyone else.
I worked with two other students, Jack Densmore from Leander High School and Paul Iskra from Vista Ridge. We showed up on our first day, one by one, each clad in business casual attire, and dove straight into our first assignment—interviewing random people around the town of Leander, trial by fire, but it was the rest of the week that was really special. Interning at a newspaper is something spectacular because we got to experience so many “cool” things. My team was in charge of covering the COOL week story for the district, which meant paying a visit to everyone else.
Every day was spent jam-packed with interviews all around, with Pigg Pen Cycles, the Leander Fire Station and Pilot’s Choice Aviation all in one day. Followed by a day at the Texas State Senate and Fashion X Austin. Not to mention getting free Cookies at Eileen’s Colossal Cookies and touring the facilities. However, it wasn’t necessarily the places we went but the hands-on experience that was so rich and valuable. In high school, a student’s opportunities are limited. COOL week gave each participant a glimpse into what it’s like to work in the “real world” for just a week and even though it was short, it gave students connections that they can hold onto for a long time to come.
In the end, I can safely say that I want to go back, and probably will act as the free-lance writer they asked me to be.
One week after my team and I started, we came out with a page in the paper that we were all proud of and a newfound inspiration to power through the rest of the year to someday get up there. Every senior should participate in COOL week next year because it’s an opportunity that not every school is fortunate enough to have.