Student interns for the Bugle

This month marks the start of a new program between the Park Bugle and the University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication: We are employing student journalism interns to write news stories for us.

The program has been long in the dream stage and more recently brought to fruition. Our partnership will give university J students practical experience and allow the Bugle to expand its community outreach.

Bugle board member Michelle Christianson and I recently met with University of Minnesota adjunct journalism professor Seth Richardson and Becky Borg, J school assistant director for external relations, to draft guidelines for the student intern program.

Our plan is to take up to two student-written stories per month for the foreseeable future. Our partnership will help expand the Bugle’s breadth of coverage and enable the J students to gain critical experience, writing samples and mentorship assistance.

In our July Bugle, Gustav Demars and Trinity Tatman are our first U of M J student writers. Gustav writes about crime in St. Anthony Park in the wake of the Michael Brasel murder in May while Trinity chronicles this year’s nonprofit recipients of grants from the St. Anthony Park Community Foundation.

Gustav is a fourth-year student studying journalism and Spanish. Born and raised in southwest Minneapolis, Gustav said, “I’m an aspiring multimedia journalist who wants to report on issues people care about while incorporating data, photos and interactive visuals to tell stories in a way that’s compelling to the modern-day reader.”

Meanwhile, Trinity will be a third-year journalism and political science student this fall. She describes herself as “a native rural Illinoisan who grew up in a small community surrounded by nothing but soybeans and corn with the occasional livestock to change up the scenery.”

Trinity added, “Pursuing journalism has been a passion of mine ever since I was a little girl reading the Sunday newspaper with my grandfather. Over the past several years, I have engaged with various types of journalism but nothing has kept me more engaged and joyful than writing for local communities.

“It has been a pleasure writing for the Park Bugle, and engaging with the surrounding communities has been incredibly rewarding.

“I would highly recommend this opportunity for anyone who wants to develop a deeper passion and support for local journalism and communities,” Trinity said.

New Bugle proofreader

Also, with this issue of the Bugle, we welcome Mary Hegge as our new proofreader.

Mary has had a long career in copy editing and proofreading and is very familiar with Bugleland. For the past 31 years, she has lived in St. Anthony Park.

Part of her childhood included growing up in the Como Park neighborhood and graduating from Murray Senior High School.

“I’ve been an avid reader all my life,” Mary told me. “I’m also a committed life-long learner, taking courses regularly on a wide variety of subjects.”

Mary’s educational background includes a bachelor of science degree in medical technology and a certificate in writing and editing from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.