Intern Highlight: Ellen Bartyzal

submitted by Sarah EldredMeet Ellen Bartyzal, a senior at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Ellen was one of the two Eichten News Fellows this summer at Minnesota Public Radio. She applied for the program because she knew former Eichten Fellow, and they had “nothing but good things to say about their summers at MPR.”From Ellen: I have learned so much at this internship! I’ve learned about interviewing, reporting and writing concisely for radio. I’ve also learned a lot of technical skills through recording interviews and sound with state-of-the-art recording equipment and then editing and mixing that sound into a story. I’ve learned about voicing pieces for radio and how challenging it can be to find your voice and express that in your stories. I learned these things from all of the work that I did day-to-day, but I learned so much more from just observing others in the newsroom.Give Ellen's story a listen. We think she's found her voice!The Gary Eichten News Fellowship is a partnership between MPR and two affiliated schools: the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. One student from each school works full time from June to August in the newsroom learning how to write, report and produce for radio, calling on news sources, editing and assisting with other production tasks.Ellen shared these insights about working in the newsroom while reporters covered the Allina nurses strike:

They [reporters] need to be sure to report on the facts, but also be aware that some sources mayhave their own agenda. I saw the high standards that MPR holds for what is accurate and fair. I had a greater appreciation for this organization after seeing the great lengths that Lorna Benson  (Ellen's supervisor) went through to gain all of the facts and make an educated decision regarding the story.

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Fellowship Highlight: Lila Cherneff

submitted by Sarah EldredWith the release of the first few episodes of the podcast In The Dark last week, we want to be sure you meet the interns and fellows behind the scenes at APM Reports.Lila Cherneff is an APM Reports fellow. She joined APMG as a tape logger for American RadioWorks, which was new to her. “As a tape logger, I was instantly drawn into the fascinating raw tape coming through my headphones: from 23-year-old veterans describing their PTSD to aging physics professors' stories of trying to save school records from Hurricane Katrina. I was so impressed with the tone and breadth of the interviews; I knew I wanted to learn from the folks behind them."One of the components to radio production that Lila learned was research. “In my imagined notion of documentary radio, I thought you transition from interviews to writing to production in one seamless sort of magical creative sweep. It has been such a valuable learning experience for me to get to work with the APM Reports producers on all the tiny details and edits and revisions and re-revisions that go into producing an hour of damn good radio.”A few highlights from Cherneff's fellowship include tagging along on reporting trips to St. Paul Public Schools, the investigative workshop with Paul Myers from the BBC, and sitting in on tracking and mixing sessions. But where she feels she’s learned the most is, “getting to witness up close the day-in, day-out minutiae of a documentary radio program: how theory and data and deeply personal stories come together to create into a finished product.”Lila’s supervisor Ryan Katz, shared this about her,

Lila does not walk. She shuffles. She pads. She glides. And the way she glides is a function of her personality and the work she does. Lila seemingly effortlessly handles everything I throw at her…from the mundane to the more compelling parts of her job. One hour she’s filling out spreadsheets. The next she’s reporting at a local high school, conducting research or finding archival material vital to a documentary. Lila even made it into one of our documentaries this year talking as an expert on the lack of data on college education in prisons.

And she’s creative – Lila did a sketch for our documentary on remedial education which became the lead image for the website. (She also has an unhealthy obsession with Drake.)

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Intern Highlight Two-For-One: Jackie Lawyer and Afua Paintsil

submitted by Sarah EldredMinnesota Public Radio's 50^th anniversary is right around the corner. Just a few months ago, Ali Lozoff was chosen to organize this benchmark year with celebrations, events and programs. Interns Jackie Lawyer and Afua Paintsil were hired to jump-start this enormous project.Jackie Lawyer is beginning her sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania in just a few days. She applied for the internship because she “thought that the skills learned and practiced here would be applicable to an undertaking I have waiting for me when I head back to school.”“I'm learning a lot about the specifics of the archival process, which, before this internship, really only extended as far as the fact that fingerprints and pictures are not friends.” On a more serious note, “I've managed to absorb that way of holding one's self for when I actually exit my college student bubble and enter the real world. The project itself has allowed me to view the company's history in photos, and I can assure you the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is definitely an average--some of them get your brain going and produce far more than a thousand words, and others just leave you with no words whatsoever.”Just recently, Jackie and Afua showcased the culmination of their summer’s work. They oversaw a multi-day review of all the photos spanning 50 years which was open to the company to enjoy and comment. “Hearing all the stories behind all the pictures I've become so familiar with over the past month or so has been so much fun and I'm so glad to have helped create a space for people to relive the moments captured in these pictures,” said Lawyer.Paintsil had this to say about the photo review, “This past week has been very memorable just because I didn’t imagine our work would bring so much joy to employees. There was such a great energy in the room, everyone was just so happy to look through old photos or connect with people they don’t always see because they’re in different areas, it was like a class reunion.”Aside from the new skills she gained during the past few months, Afua treasured the time she had with Ali, “[she is] a great boss to have because she wants this to be more than an internship, but also a mentorship, so in the last few weeks she’s set up informational meetings for us and that’s been a great learning opportunity for me.”Both Lawyer and Paintsil had wonderful things to say about working with Margaret Bresnahan, Digital Media Coordinator in Broadcast Operations. Margaret agrees, “Jackie and Afua are whip smart and working with them has been a real treat. I look forward to the day they return to APMG to run the place as our COAs (Chief Officers of Awesome).”At the suggestion of CEO Jon McTaggart, Lozoff was thrilled to have two interns rather than one, as originally planned. “[Jackie and Afua] were able to tackle the immense job of sorting through 50 years of documents and photographs to ready them for selection for the [commemorative] book. If they weren’t working together on the project, the task and being cooped up in the archives may have caused one of them to go a little stir crazy.”Interns are integral to APMG and so are great managers. Ali not only provided guidance in the archival process, but also designed additional learning opportunities. She explained: “Throughout the summer Jackie and Afua were able to work with and meet with a wide assortment of MPR staffers, affording them a glimpse into the working life of MPR. Since they are up close and personal with documents and images from the very founding days of the organization, it’s been great for them to see how this place functions day to day and has grown into what it is. Thanks to everyone who has taken time with them and explained how their individual roles contribute to MPR, and how they chose the career path they did.”And to reiterate the importance of being open to new experiences, Lozoff had this to say about her two interns, “As far as Jackie and Afua go – I couldn’t imagine selecting better candidates for this position. They are smart, self-sufficient, problem-solvers with positive attitudes and a curiosity about all things MPR. They’ve taken advantage of Slack channels, ticket offers, Church lunch, and social meet-ups to integrate themselves into #MPRLife in the short time they’ve been here. It’s been a delight. I only hope they are taking lessons from beyond the archives back to school with them.”more from the Inside APMG Blog 

Intern Highlight: Emily Haavik

Intern Highlights are (you guessed it!) a series of posts about the experiences of APMG's interns.submitted by Sarah Eldred(Summer 2016) Emily Haavik graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2012 with a degree in journalism. And like so many of us decided to check out a completely different field, advertising. After that flirtation was over, she worked at a television station in Duluth as a news producer and reporter for a couple years. Haavik wanted to switch to public radio so she applied for the American Radio Works internship to learn more about investigative work and long-form journalism. Her UMD journalism prof (and APM Reports Editor) Catherine Winter endorsed her as a 'gem'.Haavik has observed this of reporters and producers here at APMG, “They demonstrate how to treat sources with respect, tell their stories in honest and compelling ways, and become educated on new topics quickly and thoroughly.Emily says she's “getting much better at finding buried information” and “practicing not taking no for an answer.”She has worked closely with Sasha Aslanian on this story.

Regarding Sasha, Emily says: Sasha has consistently given me opportunities to take ownership and push myself with new challenges. One that stands out is being sent to Illinois to conduct a prison interview. The fact that she and our bosses trusted me with an interview we’d only have one shot at -- not to mention lugging their expensive gear around Chicago -- meant a lot to me.

Emily’s reporting on trafficking will also be featured on an upcoming episode of Reveal.more from the Inside APMG Blog

Intern Highlight: Greta Hallberg

Summer's winding down... and so is the work of some our talented summer interns. But before they're off on their next adventures, we'd like to share a few of their experiences.

In her own words, here's Marketplace intern Greta Hallberg:

“I just graduated from Miami University (Ohio) with a degree in Journalism and Economics. Marketplace is kind of the perfect mashup of my majors, and I love politics so I knew I wanted to be in DC. I’ve always been a huge public radio fan—I grew up in Wayzata, a suburb of Minneapolis, where the public radio culture is top notch. I’ve always been attracted to telling stories in sound and interning here has been a great opportunity to do so.”

“So here’s kind of a cool picture from when I was out in the field gathering some audio for the Marketplace poll stories. We went into a suburban barber shop to interview some people about how they feel about the economy. The owner had a kid and his buddy helping out in the shop and they ended up playing with some of the audio equipment. Hands down one of my favorite days on the job!”

And from her colleague Kimberly Adams:

“Greta fits right in with us political nerds in the DC Bureau. She keeps us on top of the campaign schedules in this crazy political season, and brings lots of fresh angles to our coverage. We never worry about sending her out into the field to gather tape for a story, and she regularly helps us find great sources on tight deadlines. I’m excited to see what Greta does next!”

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