As my internship came to a close, I don't think it is an experience I will soon forget. There is so much that I will take away from this past month.  When I look back a month ago, I still cannot believe where my adventures took me. I was able to live my dream and be apart of a huge ski production, experience a production of a newspaper, watch my work get published, and learn about every aspect there is to a  newspaper. When I look back on this experience, I see so much growth that occurred in myself and clarity. I am certain that this is a field that I would like to jump into.  And I thank you Animas High School for the opportunity of a lifetime, this was by far the most meaningful experiences I have had in all my 17 years!
 
Who:
Jeff E
Durango Herald assistant news editor
Outdoor and Travel editor.
 #1 job at Herald is back up news editor.
He is also on the copy desk, which is the 'last line' before everything makes it into the paper. Jeff also designs pages. 

Where: 
Grew up in Broomfeild, Colorado. Graduated from Broomfeild High School.
College:
-CSU 2 years
-Vail ski bum/ worked in ski shop.
-Alaska/ worked on crab boat
-hitch-hiked West Coast.
After, he went back to school at CSU for three years. 

He got a degree in technical journalism, and a concentration degree in public relations. 
After graduating from CSU, he worked at Sky-Hi news in Denver as a reporter and photographer. 

Jeff also worked as a media relations coordinator in Gramby at the Silvercreek, Ski area. He did the marketing department, media relations, media relations, and was the representative of the ski area for Ski Country, USA. 

Another neat thing that Jeff did was 'Ghost Writing' for Hank Cashama a pro skier that worked for Skier Magazine. 

He was then the host of a cable T.V program 'Ski Talk', and wrote copy for the show.
Jeff also worked at Regis College for a about a year.
-Public affairs 
-Publicity coordinator
-internal/ external 
-News release 
-launched fundraisers 
-Anything media related. 

Jeff then moved out to Paso-Robles, California. He worked as a Sports editor for 4 years at a newspaper. 
He also worked in Palm Springs that the 'Desert Sun' as a sports copy editor.

Six years later worked as a copy editor at the news desk, designed front pages for a Gallete newspaper. 

After that, Jeff went and worked at a Fort Collins Newspaper as a copy editor, assistant City editor, assistant news editor for 9 years. 

Then Jeff found himself in Durango, Colorado working at the Durango Herald starting in November of 2008. He first started off as a Copy editor, then in the summer of 2011 he became the assistant city editor, and also took on the Travel section and Outdoor section. 

What do you dislike about journalism?
" Love this business, don't like the schedule and late hours". 

What do you like?
Seeing results of work every 24 hours everyday is rewarding. 
The rhythm to it 
busy
exciting
seeing stories as the happen
informed
on top of news
People who work in it, are all very similar 
Energy- make it fun
lively 

Advice?
Prepare for tough hours



 
As my internship goes on, I am still learning an immense amount. Week two was an exciting week at The Herald. I was able to shadow very diverse people, who a valuable to The Herald. On Monday morning I was with Katie Burford. Kaite is the city editor at the city desk. She is the one in charge of all the news that takes place mostly locally concerning the city. While I was with her, I helped a reporter develop a story about the winter storm we received last week. It was super fun, because they had me on the phone calling different people to get quotes.  I learned a lot about resources, and interviewing people over the phone.  It was neat to see some of my work published in the paper, a feeling that would be more profound at the end of the week when my article would be published. 
Below is the article.
http://www.durangoherald.com/article/20120320/NEWS01/703209931/-1/News01/Spring-to-show-winter-who
Later on that day, I was with Darryl Hunt. Darryl is one of the advertisers, and an accounting executive. We went downtown collecting ads from businesses and talking with store owners.  It was a very similar process to what I experienced while I was on the advertising crew for the AHS yearbook. Tuesday the 20th, both the people I was shadowing and my mentor were sick or out of town, therefore I took the day off to enjoy some last minute powder!Wednesday the 21st, in the morning, I was with Karla Sluis. Karla is the one who creates all the special sections. These include Durango Living, Winter and Summer guides, e.c.t.. I really enjoyed working with Karla. I am extremely fascinated with the magazine side of journalism, so it was valuable to see what goes into those.  It was also exciting because she asked me to be one of her free-lance writers for the special sections!  I am very excited to continue writing with the Herald once I leave.This was also the day Jessica came in to see me, and she also was added to her list of freelancers.  During the afternoon, I was with Cliff Vancura. Cliff is the main Design editors. He is the one who creates the cartoons for the paper, and also does the layouts for certain pages. During this shadow session, I was able to help design the layout of my article. I was able to see all the coordination it takes between all the writers, advertisers and designers to create a single section in a newspaper.  It was also very cool to see my article go through all the necessary stages before it is published.  Thursday the 22nd was a short and simple day for me. I only met with one person, and that was Josh Stephanson. Josh is the guy who keeps the Herald's website going.  Although there wasn't much he could really let me do, we did have an educated time anyways.  Last year Josh helped cover Cold Rush, therefore it was interesting to compare the two different experiences we had, and the articles. We also talked about the future of journalism. How the world of journalism in the further (if that is what I chose to pursue) is a totally different world then what anyone at the Herald walked into. Just that our culture and the way we consume media is changing. Which is 100% true. Therefore, I would like to extend my knowledge of multi-media, because this is a powerful source of media today and where it is headed. Although it is something new to me, I am not to far off with my previous knowledge of photography. I think that if I can learn about all the types of media consumption, then I can be headed in the right direction. Friday the 23rd. This was the BIG DAY! Friday was the day my article would be published in the Outdoor section.  I was a bit bummed, because I was in Grand Junction for tennis on the day my story hit the stands. Although, I wasn't there, I did get plenty of compliments on my work. It was so exciting to finally see all my hard work from the past couple weeks published and recognized. 
 
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A day at the office.
 With the first week complete of my internship, there is so much that has come with it. Most of the first week was spent developing my story about Cold Rush in a way that I can be proud of.  At first, I found it some what hard to get my thoughts out in a way that is appropriate for the newspaper. Although before long, it began to flow, and I was smacking away at my keys. I found it extremely fun writing, and listening through all the interviews I had collected. 
Once I would finish the draft I was working on, my mentor would revise it. We did this process until it was complete.  

Other than working on my story, I have also been doing other fruitful learning at The Herald. I have had the honor of sitting in at editor meetings. These are fun to attend because the discuss and decide what makes the paper the next day. It's neat to watch what the discussed in the meeting, then seeing it in the Herald the next day.
 My first day I shadowed Emery Cowan. Emery was doing an article about the FLC and Chamber of Commerce collaboration to create an site for students to find internships. It was very ironic that I was sitting in for this interview. They were talking about the importance of internships for students. It was a great way to set the tone for the rest of my internship! 
I also shadowed photographer Dave Bergelund.  I went on a morning photography assignment to the St. Columbia Church.  It was awesome learning from such a talented photographer. Dave taught me all sorts of interesting things I can do with my camera, and my i-phone. Yes i-phone. He showed me movies with stills and video that were all created with an i-phone (you would have never guessed).  During my time with Dave we also took my head shot that will be in my article. During that I learned all about how to shoot profile photographs and the lighting tricks that come along with it. 
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Dave Bergelund's photograph
The next day, I shadowed Jordyn Dahl, the social media gal. It was a very interesting learning about the social media a behind The Herald.  Jordyn is actuality created that job, therefore she is the first one to have that position.  So for the afternoon I learned all that goes into updating The Herald's Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.  I am starting to realize just how essential that position is to businesses and large corporate companies in our tech-savy world.  
Finally on Friday morning I went with reporter Heather Scofield. Heather is a very experienced journalist who knows her stuff.  I was fun learning a thing or two from her. The interview was with county commissioner Bobby Lieb. Bobby and the rest of the commissioners have to hire a new planning director. Apparently this is a very 'sticky' job.  So the candidates  have to be carefully selected.  They were allowing the public to come to a 'meet and greet' to meet the candidates.  The interview was about the process they are going to go through to pick the new planning director.  
 
From March 4th through the 8th, I attended the Red Bull Cold Rush. For my internship I will be writing a cover story for the Durango Herald about The Cold Rush. This means I was a part of the media crew while there.  The Red Bull Cold Rush is a quite possibly the most unique professional ski events in the world. It takes the 2 complete opposite sides of free skiing and put it into one event. These events are slopestyle and big mountain, which is all went on in my backyard of Silverton Mountain.  Every year I always tune in to keep up with this event. Naturally, I have always been excited about The Cold Rush. So having the privilege of attending it in person was a dream come true. 

The first day of the Cold Rush was Monday March 5th, (best Monday I have ever had!)  which was the Big Mountain day.  So that morning I was snowmobiled into Velocity Basin to the bottom of the Big Mountain venue.  Only a couple of minutes before I arrived, there was an avalanche that slid, taking out a third of the venue.  Clearly this stirred the athletes and everyone there. Although after safety procedures were taken, the event went on! The athletes were then helied from the bottom to the top of Storm Peak by the Silverton helicopters. There was also a Red Bull heli filming along with the NBC heli.  Once everyone was in line, the show began! It was absolutely unreal watching athletes I have idolize come ripping down the mountain in front of my very eyes. The whole day was quite the adventure. I met the main still photographers from Red Bull, writers and photographers from Powder and Freeskier Magazine. I also had a photographer from Outside mag take my portrait with my skis. On top of that I was able to not only meet my idols of the skiing world, but the honor to hang out with them at the event as well. 
The next day was the slopestyle day. To get to this event, I simply just rode the chair lift up to the top and hiked about 10 mins over the ridge. There was only about 30 spectators that were there to watch. Most all the spectators were part of the media crew (including me).  Sorta fun feeling so exclusive!  Anyways, all of us were positioned on top to a cliff that was below the 'railroad rail' and the 'mando mine jump', and above the hip jump and castle cliff. Therefore I had front row seats.  Once again the athletes had to deal with a really difficult course. The landings off the rail and Mando jumps looked like they were solid as a rock. Although, the athletes once again surprised everyone working through it all, and putting on a great show.  
Picture
photo credit REDBULL
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Grete Eliassen and I at the slopestyle comp!
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If you look in the very back right, you can see me watching the judging! Photo credit REBULL
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photo credit REDBULL men winners
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Photo credit REDBULL Women winners!
The final day of The Cold Rush was suppose to be the final event, although it had to be cancelled. Earlier that week the cliff venue also ended up sliding, (avalanche) making for a dangerous  scenario, resulting in having to cancel the cliff event.  So what they did instead was a 'Freeski' day at Silverton Mountain. They let all the athletes and media crew ski Silverton privately.  Super crazy experience getting to ski with some of the athletes and other awesome people that made this event possible.  
Later that night was the athlete judging.  Another unique element to this event is that fact that instead of a judging panel, the athletes are the judging panel. So the last night the athletes watched all the footage from both days  and decided who ultimatly  is the best all mountain skier in the world.  Again since I was part of the media crew, I had the privilege of getting to sit in while they judged each other.  After the judging came the awards.  On the women's side: 
1st- Rachel Burks 
2nd Michelle Parker
3rd Jackie Paaso
Men:
1st Dane Tudor
2nd Sage Cattabriga-alosa 
3rd Pep Fujas

I am still in dis-belief that I had the opportunity to experience this. I am still waiting to wake up from this dream. I was able to be involved in a huge event and TV production as well. I met extremely interesting people who work behind the scenes in the skiing industry. And not to mention hang out with pro skiers I have looked up to forever.  

I know that this experience has opened up doors for my future, and ones I probably don't even know about yet.  After the first part of my internship, I cannot help but think "what a cool school I go to..".  Thanks Animas High, I can't wait to see what else my internship has in store for me!!
 
Welcome to my daily blog!
 This is where I will come to update daily about my internship and reflect on each day.