Across Maryland and DC, seven journalism students have been honing their skills and publishing important stories as part of the Reese Cleghorn Internship program from MDDC.  Each year, MDDC hires outstanding student journalists to intern in MDDC member newsrooms each summer.  Funding for these internships was made possible by Betty Osborne, the Delaplaine Foundation, the Goldseker Foundation and The Nutting Family Foundation, and many individual donors to MDDC, including former staffers of the Herald-Mail who contributed to the Jim Schurz Intern Fund.  

These interns were selected from a pool of highly qualified applicants.  Interns come from three schools, including the University of Maryland, Morgan State University and Penn State University.  Each intern was immersed in their host newsroom and treated as a professional working journalist.  Students in the program are expected to generate 20-30 published clips and real-world experience during their 8-week paid internship.  As part of the program, interns participate in a one-day briefing on how to get the most out of the internship.  MDDC hosted webinars with Best of Show winners from the 2023 contest to provide real-world perspectives on journalism.  Those webinars were incorporated into MDDC’s Five Dubs podcast to reach a wider audience. Presenters included Julie Scharper, of the Baltimore Banner for Feature Story, Non-Profile; Alex Mann, of the Baltimore Sun for Feature Story, Profile; Xerxes Wilson, of the News Journal, for First Amendment/Free Speech; and Dwight Weingarten of the News Journal for Investigative Reporting.  In addition to the customary newsroom supports, interns were also partnered with mentors, who offered guidance outside the newsroom and coaches who focused on writing skills.

The interns are (in alphabetical order): Sasha Allen University of Maryland, College Park; Angelique Gingras, University of Maryland, College Park; Kiersten Hacker, University of Maryland, College Park; Apurva Mahajan, University of Maryland, College Park; DeMarco Rush, Penn State University; Tierra Stone, Morgan State University; and Natalie Weger, University of Maryland, College Park. 

Sasha Allen is entering her senior year at the University of Maryland College Park.  She interned at The Hagerstown Herald-Mail and the internship was funded by former Schurz staffers. Sasha said of her internship, “Overall, I learned a ton from this internship. I absolutely loved how MDDC structured it with the orientation, seminars, writing coach, and mentor.” Sasha continued, “I think that this internship has definitely prepared me for my career. From a writing and reporting standpoint, I learned how to write about things I had never covered before (I got to attend and cover a plea hearing for the first time on my own which was a great learning experience). I also loved learning Hagerstown. One of the things I was most worried about was going into the community and not being able to understand it, but I left my internship with a really good understanding of the people and issues in Hagerstown. Realizing that I could develop relationships with a community I came into as an outsider was amazing and extremely rewarding.”   Sasha was supported this summer by her coach, Paul Milton and her mentor, Jack Hogan.   

A selection of Sasha’s standout pieces:

• https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/news/local/2024/07/16/changing-student-behavior-and-district-efforts-to-increase-support/74267762007/
• https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/news/local/2024/06/25/antietam-national-battlefield-superintendent-andrew-banasik/74157081007/
• https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/news/local/2024/06/01/maryland-boonsboro-high-school-senior-graduation-makeup/73925968007/
• https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/story/news/local/2024/07/22/washington-county-public-schools-meritus-landons-program-autism/74207885007/

Angelique Gingras graduated from the University of Maryland College Park in May 2024.  She interned at The Capital Gazette and the internship was funded by the Delaplaine Foundation. Angel said of her internship, “I had a great experience writing for the Capital Gazette through MDDC. I published 20+ bylines covering many different beats, and this was invaluable experience for me. Specifically, while my interest is in business and feature stories, I got to cover crime and write news obits, which I haven’t had much experience with in undergrad.” Angel continued, “I saw myself improve as a writer over the summer, become a better communicator, and get better at turning quick stories. This all will prepare me for my career in any newsroom.” Angel was supported this summer by her coach, Paul Milton and her mentor, Melody Simmons.   Melody shared “I really enjoyed getting to know Angel and was so impressed with her smarts and “true north” as a reporter at such a young age. She will go far and has had a good summer with a variety of assignments, both business reporting, breaking news, daily stories and even obits. Hers was a success because she is a go-getter who drilled the desk at the Sun and Capital for assignments.”

A selection of Angel’s standout pieces:

• https://www.capitalgazette.com/2024/07/17/willows-forest-drive-legion-garden/
• https://www.capitalgazette.com/2024/07/29/robert-jarrell-chicken-man-annapolis/
• https://www.capitalgazette.com/2024/06/30/annapolis-restaurant-pussers-celebrating-last-summer-at-the-dock/

Kiersten Hacker graduated from the University of Maryland College Park in May 2024.  She interned at The Baltimore Sun and the internship was funded by Betty Osborne in memory of Burl Osborne. Kiersten said of her internship, “It took a lot of adjusting to the intensity of covering breaking news at one of the top newspapers in Maryland, but it forced me to learn very quickly while venturing out of my comfort zone. I gained a lot of new, valuable reporting skills.” Kiersten continued, “…this internship meant a lot to me as I establish myself in the professional journalism world. I found what kind of reporter I want to be and the core ethical values that I will hold with me. I ventured out of my comfort zone, pushing myself to become a stronger reporter. I tried to be a sponge in the newsroom and soak up all the knowledge I could. I am grateful to live out my dream at this newspaper, but also for being exposed to the realities of journalism, especially breaking news which can be very heavy in a big city.” Kiersten was supported this summer by her coach, Paul Milton and her mentor, Milton Kent.   

A selection of Kiersten’s standout pieces:

• https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/08/12/pedestrian-deaths-complete-streets/
• https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/07/04/mount-vernon-conservancy-green-spaces-washington-monument/
• https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/07/16/moores-service-year-camden/
• https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/18/baltimore-pride-mace-confusion/
• https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/07/24/baltimore-ig-report-poor-working-conditions-dpw/

Apurva Mahajan is entering his junior year at the University of Maryland College Park.  He interned at The Frederick News Post under Andy Schotz and the internship was funded by the Nutting Family Foundation. Apurva said of the experience, “The biggest thing I have received coming out of this internship is an increased confidence in my skills as a reporter. Actually going out into the field and being expected to turn around a story each day was tough at the start, but now I feel that I can take anything that’s thrown at me and come out with a clean, polished product at the end, no matter how complicated I think the story is. I came into this internship looking for experience, and just wanted to write as much as I possibly could, and I definitely think I satisfied my goal.” Apurva continued, “In my internship at The Frederick News-Post, I covered a variety of topics ranging from crime, government, business, breaking news and environment stories. I came out of these eight weeks with more than 45 total single-byline briefs and stories. I appreciated that I was taken seriously as a reporter from the start. Not even thirty minutes into my first day, I was on the road to interview two U.S. senators during their visit to Frederick County. I eventually started to cover municipalities and local governments in the county toward the end of my internship, where I felt most like a typical beat reporter and was finding my own stories and regularly checking in with sources.”

Apurva was supported this summer by his coach, Diana Sugg and his mentor, Ginger Thompson.  Apurva says of his coach and mentor, “I cannot stress how grateful I am for both my writing coach, Diana Sugg, and my mentor, Ginger Thompson. Both of these journalists are so talented and helped me by acting as sounding boards or looking at story ideas I had or problems I ran into from different perspectives. Diana in particular helped me think of pitches, and with her, I knew I always had someone in my corner which was an immense help when I felt stuck or frustrated with my work. If anything, building relationships with these two has been the best part of the internship, and I plan to stay in touch with both of them even after this summer.”   

A selection of Apurva’s standout pieces:

• https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/health_and_welfare/draft-labor-regulation-would-provide-workers-with-paid-family-and-medical-leave/article_26e0df60-2d27-5975-ac07-dac8f8f43d5b.html
• https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/education/schools/public_k-12/high_school/governor_thomas_johnson/gov-thomas-johnson-high-students-navigate-woods-win-nationally-at-wilderness-sport/article_5238f710-7879-5a36-ada8-53f1b2e8310d.html
• https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/weather/employers-adjust-work-practices-for-extreme-summer-temperatures/article_2cb2dd0a-bdff-552e-b1d9-759f5e2a5f73.html
• https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/health/treatment_and_diseases/state-lawmakers-want-oversight-of-drugs-connected-to-fatal-overdoses/article_5d8e0b0f-3bd8-5d22-8f3a-6ea30745428f.html

Demarco Rush is graduated from Penn State University in May 2024.  He interned at The Washington Informer and the internship was funded by MDDC Foundation individual donors. He was supervised by Denise Rolark-Barnes, who said, “DeMarco is a true team player. He still needs some help with his writing, but he’s eager to learn. He has produced a couple of good videos.” Demarco said of the experience, “[t]his internship showed me true journalism by putting me on the front lines and giving me the skills that are needed if you want to work in the media/journalism industry. At the Washington Informer I did a multitude of roles including interviewing, hosting, writing, directing, producing and more.” Demarco continued, “I was brought in from day one by my mentor at the Informer, Ra-Jah Kelly, who showed me behind the scenes of a local paper and its business operations in addition to being a journalist. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful whenever I needed something…I can write better, I am more confident interviewing, I know how to produce and direct feature style videos, and I understand storytelling much better than before.” Demarco was supported this summer by his coach, Anne Tallent and his mentor, Steven Overly.  Demarco shared that “my writing coach, Anne, was very helpful and helped me add different writing techniques to my work and we didn’t have to meet super consistently, we branched it out so I could grow then show my evolution.”   

A selection of Demarco’s standout pieces is at https://www.washingtoninformer.com/author/demarco-rush/

Tierra Stone is entering her junior year at Morgan State University.  She interned at The AFRO under Alexis Taylor, who shared “Tierra has been doing amazing work! She covered a very important vigil and a protest for us…I told her earlier this week that she really is our best intern.” The internship was funded by the Goldseker Foundation. Tierra said of the experience, “This internship has prepared me for my journalism career because it has shown me that I can do it; all I had to do was get out of my own way. I believe that it has also helped my writing tremendously and turning over work quickly which wasn’t my strong suit in the beginning. Lastly, this experience has taught me not to give up on a story if something doesn’t work out–it’s a job as journalists to make a way out of no way in order to get out stories completed.”

Tierra continued, “My experience at the AFRO started off kind of shaky because it was a new experience and I wasn’t quite sure of my abilities as a journalist. Thankfully, the AFRO was patient and didn’t give up on me and I grew as a reporter over the past couple of months.”

Tierra was supported this summer by her coach, Diana Sugg and her mentor, Ann LoLordo.  Tierra felt that “[t]he mentoring was perfect for me. I felt that I was supported throughout the internship.”  She also  appreciated her coach, saying, “[t]he coaching part of the internship was one of the factors that I believe helped me to not give up on myself.”   

A selection of Tierra’s standout pieces:

• https://afro.com/sonya-massey-fatal-shooting-protests/
• https://afro.com/leith-walk-vigil-cortez-lemon/
• https://afro.com/baltimore-churches-climate-change/

Natalie Weger is entering her junior year at University of Maryland, College Park.  She interned at The Daily Record under Patrick Brannan; the internship was funded by the Goldseker Foundation. Natalie said of the experience, “I enjoyed learning from my editors in the newsroom and was able to write over 20 single-bylined stories in my time there. This internship was my first true reporting internship and it really gave me the foundation to move onto bigger internships next summer. I also enjoyed meeting weekly with both of my mentors, Kamau and Anne. I felt that the mentorship program was really helpful alongside my internship.”

Natalie continued, “This internship taught me the foundations of business journalism, a feat that I had not taken on before. The internship also taught me how to report across different Maryland counties. I enjoyed being able to still report on local news, while still broadening my reach to different parts of Maryland. I was able to explore different types of stories, including a profile about a Baltimore baker and a data story about child poverty in Maryland.”

Natalie was supported this summer by her coach, Anne Tallent and her mentor, Kamau High. 

A selection of Natalie’s standout pieces:

• https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/07/30/im-building-memories-how-a-baltimore-resident-founded-ovenbird-bakery/
• https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/07/11/moore-administration-launches-20m-initiative-to-address-child-poverty-every-day-we-fail-to-address-this/

Congratulations to MDDC’s interns!  Interested in becoming an intern in 2025?  The application period is open from September to November.  Read more about the program here.

The Reese Cleghorn internship program is part of the MDDC Press Foundation, which is funded in part through donations from private individuals.  Learn more or make a tax-deductible gift to the Foundation.