Nicole at New Youth Connections

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2010-06-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

Internship Final Reflection

2010-06-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

I had many goals to fulfill while interning New Youth Connections which were:
(1) To improve my writing skills
(2) Improve my networking skills
(3) Gain skills that will help me for the SAT and ELA exams
(4) To write many stories and have them published
(5) To have a great internship experience- meet people and learn
(6) To accomplish all the goals above and to be successful

Proudly I achieved these goals. It took persistence, patience, dedication, time, mountain of effort and positive attitude to achieve my goals.
To improve my writing I wrote stories-- six to be exact. I wrote from five to eight drafts for each story in order to polish and ready them for publishing. I received a ton of feedback from my editor. She taught me ways to improve my writing because every time I submitted one draft she edited for me. I observed the corrections she had made and learned from my mistakes. Also she asked me things that the story was missing such as: feelings, more details about the theme or plot.
In the process of these editing sessions, I understood what a story needs to have to be well written.
I improved my networking skills while participating in staff meetings, interviews and trips. My mentor played a big role in improving my networking skills because her support and lessons made me feel more confident. As a result, I have contacts from my internship.
In the process of writing stories I gained skills that will help me with the SAT and ELA exams because I did research, gave feedback to other writers in their stories; I was an active reader, which means that I was writing down questions and taking notes and I also paid attention to who said this and that, what was the focus, theme, plot and how it was written.
Having a positive attitude was one of the was one of the reasons I had a great internship experience because everyday I was ready to work and learn and I tried to find the positive side of the things.
I was very lucky to be part of the staff at New Youth Connections because they were all great. They were very nice people who enjoy their job. The office atmosphere was quiet but sometimes we ha so much fun together-- I don't remember having a day without laughing.

In few words, in the last 12-weeks I learned how to be a journalist. I explored this whole field in communications and learned how to do interviews, do research,edit and most important how to write news articles and stories. In addition, I learn that it is important to pursue the career you want to enjoy your job like the adults at New Youth Communications. And most important, I realized that hard work always pays off.

My internship made me become more mature and responsible by feeling how the rel world is and having responsibilities. I learned how to be part of a team and get along with my co-workers. I understood that when you have a job you are compromised to do your job well because you have to be a contribution to the company.

I overcame my challenges with my mentor's help. Every time I did not know what to do or I didn't understand, first, I tried to figure it out by myself and then I asked her for help. My challenges were to figure out what to write about, to write the reported story "Dignity and Respect" and the articles "Hands Off Our Metrocards" and "A Dysfunctional Love Story."

If you are thinking to Intern at New Youth Connections, take the following advices:

(1) Don't fool around! Do your job and spend your time wisely because your time
there is valuable

(2) Be Curious! ask questions when you don't understand or when you want to know more
about something

(3) Have a positive attitude to enjoy your time there and contribute to the company

(4) Express yourself! Share your stories through writing them

Sadly, my internship is over and I'll miss it so much. First of all, I'll miss my mentor because we had a great relationship and I was used to see her every week. I'll miss my co-workers because I learned from them and we shared thoughts. I will miss doing my job as a journalist (interviews, write stories). Also I'll miss participating in staff meetings and talking to the adults at my site.
Even though I'll miss my internship, I'll keep in touch with my mentor and I will write to her whenever I can. This means that the last day of my internship was not the last for me to be part of New Youth Connections because my mentor left the door open for me.

Me on the cover of the magazine of New Youth Connections

2010-05-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is our current issue-- Criminal Justice

-Vocabulary -

2010-05-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

In my Internship, my duty was to write stories; here are the words I learned to improve my writing and basic terms I must know while writing stories:

Theme: Is why you are writing the story: the point of the story, the message.

Plot: Is what happens: This, and then that, and then this, and then that.

Active Voice: In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action.
For example:
Steve loves Amy. Steve is the subject, and he is doing the action: he loves Amy, the subject.
Here's another example:
Melissa told me about it. Melissa the subject of the sentence, is doing the action of telling.

Passive Voice: In a passive voice the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Instead of saying, "Steve loves Amy," a passive sentence would say:
Amy is loved by Steve. The subject of the sentence becomes Amy,but she isn't doing anything. Rather, she is just the recipient of Steve's love. The focus of the sentence has changed from Steve to Amy.
Tip: When writing a story is better to write active voice sentences because it makes it easier for the reader of the story.

Transition: A transition can be a single word, a phrase, a sentence, or a entire paragraph. In each case it serves the same purpose: to signal to the reader that you are moving from one idea, argument, or moment in time to another.
Tip: This helps the reader anticipate or comprehend the new information that you're about to present.
Examples of transitions words: However, but; while, then, after, etc.

Sentence Fragment: It fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. It does not contain even one independent clause. In less technical terms, you might say that every sentence should contain a verb and a point. (In other words, it should express a complete thought.) If it's missing either or both, it's not a sentence.

For example: While writing a story. This leaves us hanging, because we need to know the complete thought. While writing the story... what?

The nutgraf: The nutgraf, or thesis statement, tells the reader what the story is about. It's usually a single paragraph near the top of your story.

New Youth Connections Website

2010-05-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

Visit this website to find true stories wrote it by teens at Youth Communications

Midpoint Reflection

2010-04-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

My Internship has been great. I didn't have expectations about my internship but I love it. I discover something about myself. I like to write to express my stories and let others read them. By the way, I love the place, we mostly work individually, but there are also times in which we work as a team. It is great to get along with co-workers and work with great people as in my internship the product of a team work are the magazines that comes out each month.
My internship is kind of the school but It is a totally different environment. For example, my mentor is like my teacher. She gives me instructions of what to do and assigns me a task. Sh explains to me when I don't understand. She teaches me new skills and its a great person. My co-workers are like my classmates. Sometimes we work in teams, we get along well and together we do a good job and finish our job.
I also learned some skills. I have become a better typist since I do a lot of witting and type it in the computer. I learned how to do interviews by phone and in person. I am improving my networking skills and I am sure that all these skills are key of success.
My mentor and I talked all the time and share thoughts. I am glad to have Marie as my mentor. She listens to me, we share thoughts about the issues we are working on or reactions about something that we read related to the current issue. Like I said I get along well with my co-workers, I learn from them and we share experiences.
I have grown as a result of interacting with adults, simply as it's different. I have a job to do, which I must finish because I have deadlines. It is like a job in which my mentor is my boss and I am growing because I have to be mature and take responsibility of my work.
My challenges have been to write my personal stories and sometimes to finish my articles. I overcame them by the help of my mentor. She offered me her support and guide me to the right path to get all those things done.
I love my schedule. I think this semester is great since I am going to my internship. It taught me to manage my time. I stick at my schedule and keeps me really busy! Even though, sometimes I feel stressed out because of school work, college now and internship I learned that it is important to have a schedule to get all things done and also have time to rest. Now I am used to this schedule and I feel it is like college.
In the next couple of weeks my goals are to write as many stories I can, write a reported story for the next issue (Criminal justice) do interviews, keep learning new things and meet new people.
I learn that New York City has a lot of great things to see. I learn a little more about it when I have trips at my internship in which we go to interview people. For example, yesterday we went to interview Donna Lieberman,Executive Director of New York Civil Liberties Union and I got to see a beautiful view from the 19th floor of the building and I saw the different helicopters ports located by wall street.

Four weeks into internship

2010-03-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Part One 3/25/10

I am a writer at New Youth Connection. New Youth Connection writes magazine written by teens and for teens. My common tasks are (1) Write a story. (2) Read information. (3) Do an interview. (4) Participate in discussions. (5) Attend to meetings. My mentor is patient, understandable, nice, good listener, smart, kind, a very good person...
I say that she is nice because every day when I come into the office always smiles and greets me. She is available and always answers my questions. And she is a good boss- I am learning!

In the past three weeks something that mostly stood up for me was seeing my article almost ready to be publish! I felt really excited and proud to be part of the next issue of the magazine to let others learn from it. Also when I had a good time interviewing people on th street by Penn Station.

I also have some challenge on my internship. The most challenging part on my internship is to have an idea of what to write about. That is the most challenging because sometimes I don't know how to start, but once I know what to write about the task is easy.

Part Two:

My internship is located at 224 W. 29th St.- 2nd Floor, New York, NY. Therefore, from Monday- Wednesday I leave school at 11:30 to arrive at my internship at 12:35 and leave my internship at 4:35pm, this means that I work three days a week, four hours each day so, I mostly arrive home at 5:20 pm. My mentor's name is Marie Glancy - Editor from New Youth Connections. She always signs my time sheet and makes sure I make up all my hours.

This past two weeks have been a little different from the first two in the way I am no longer in rush to finish my articles since the deadline already past, now I have a break.

Part Two

2010-03-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

Questions about my internship...
Who have the ideas to make the magazine of New Youth Connection be so cool and interesting?
How much does it take to make the New Youth Connection magazine for each month?
What would it be to be the editor for all the stories?

Nicole

2010-03-11T07:14:00.001-08:00

My first two weeks Part 1

2010-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

On February 22, 2010, I was so excited to arrive to my internship at New Youth Connection.
My internship is located by 34 St. in Manhattan (Penn Station). I arrived at 1 pm, I saw my mentor and greet her saying "good afternoon" and a firm handshake. I saw the office really quiet, heard people typing in the computer an I saw everyone doing their task. My mentor gave me a task right away. My first task was to read the rules of my site (I spent an hour and a half reading all the rules and policy). After that, she assign me my own computer, in which I'll be working most of the time. She told me about my site and explain to me the things that I'll be doing. My second task was to start my brainstorm to get some ideas. I completed all my tasks successfully and by 5 pm. I left. I really liked my internship site because I felt comfortable and my mentor was really nice.

My goals for my internship are:
To improve my writing skills
Gain valuable skills
Be able to write better essays
To get my articles and stories publish
To meet other people and learn from them
To gain skills that will help me for my SAT and English regents
To have a great first job experience

For the last three weeks I have been writing articles, personal stories, and notes from interviews. I also interviewed different people. And I have work independently and with my co-workers really well.
My challenge have been to come up with ideas for my stories, for example to know what to write about.