North Country Public Radio is excited to welcome three summer interns from area colleges to join its newsroom and report on issues across the region.
“Internships are a way for NCPR to contribute to journalism education at area universities,” said NCPR News Director David Sommerstein. “But they also help our news team benefit from new ideas, perspectives, and energy. These interns become equals in pitching, writing, producing, and broadcasting stories that help tell the stories of the North Country. We’re thrilled with the seriousness of purpose these three women bring to their work.”
NCPR welcomes Rhiannon Clements, a rising senior majoring in biology and communications at Clarkson University. A Potsdam native, Clements started her own Substack newsletter, “Got Biotechnology?”, last spring. She’ll continue her interest in science journalism at NCPR.
Madison Amico and Hannah Finley, students at St. Lawrence University in Canton, are returning to the news team this summer after they began their news training during winter/spring 2020, but had to take a long break as the coronavirus pandemic forced everyone to reshape their work. Both are senior editors at St. Lawrence’s Hill News campus newspaper. Their internship is made possible by former SLU professor Stan McDonald.
Finley is a rising senior majoring in English and Spanish, and as a Watertown native, is a North Country local. She helped NCPR cover one of the first Black Lives Matter protests in the region in the wake of George Floyd’s murder last summer.
Amico, also from the region in Ballston Spa, is a rising senior majoring in English and performance and communication arts. She helped cover the region’s economic reopening after the COVID-19 lockdown last spring.
Both Finley and Amico have already produced reporting that’s been featured on NCPR’s marquee regional news shows, The 8 O’Clock Hour and Story of the Day.
“Paying it forward and helping encourage the next generation of journalists is a hugely important part of our mission,” says NCPR’s General Manager Mitch Teich. “All of us at NCPR had internships at some point that played a vital role in getting us where we are today, so I hope the experiences this great crew will have are positive and stay with them for years to come.”