From the farm bill to the royal baby: my reporting internship at The Hill Newspaper

A little over two months ago, I walked into my boss’s office, sat down, and attempted to absorb everything he said. It was the first day of my summer internship at The Hill Newspaper, and I was nervous. There were three pieces of advice my boss gave me that encompassed my time at The Hill: ask if I didn’t know something and don’t pretend to know everything; the internship would be what I made of it and shyness was not an option. I took each one of them to heart and had a much more in-depth and enjoyable internship because of it. I didn’t think I’d get to be as involved in the fast-paced, deadline-infused world of news as I was this summer. I loved every minute.

At The Hill, I had two weekly intern responsibilities, not including pitching and writing stories. Interns were responsible for writing the daily “Blog Rolls,” which entailed finding two conservative and two liberal articles from around the web and writing short blurbs about them. I’ve never been so well informed about perspectives from both sides of the aisle. The other weekly intern duty was updating the bulletin board in the kitchen/lounge with articles from other publications that featured stories from The Hill.

When we weren’t trolling the web for stories, interns got to pitch and write for The Hill. I wrote about everything from Capitol Hill gossip and events to lawmakers’ tweets to voting records of members to my favorite topic, the royal baby. I think the reason I got so many opportunities to put pen to paper (well more like fingers to keyboard but you get the idea) was that I combined my boss’s advice with what I’ve learned at Kenyon. I made this internship what I wanted: an avenue to better my journalistic writing. I did this by asking questions when I wasn’t sure of something, using my Kenyon honed writing skills, and not being afraid to pitch stories. I must have pitched five or six ideas before I finally got to write one of my own.

I know I’ll apply my boss’s words of wisdom to each internship and job I have in the future, but I also know that I’ve applied them to my Kenyon life. At Kenyon, I have two responsibilities: my Political Science Major and being a goalie for the Women’s Lacrosse Team. As a PoliSci major, I haven’t been afraid to ask a question or admit that I didn’t understand the electoral system of Germany or Japan after a first read. On the lacrosse field, I was a young starter, and it took me a few games to get comfortable, but I learned I couldn’t be shy with older players because they needed me to be a leader between the pipes.

I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to grow as a writer this summer. I highly suggest applying to intern at The Hill. Throw shyness to the wind, ask questions and make every job what you want it to be.

Written by: Meredith Bentsen K'15