New Canaan High School’s hugely popular Senior Internship Program—where members of the graduating class spend the last few weeks of their final academic year interning at local businesses and organizations—launches Tuesday.
This year, 97% of NCHS seniors are participating, according to the program’s coordinator, Kelly DelMazio. That’s 362 seniors placed across 230 internship sites, including NewCanaanite.com.
NCHS senior Donovan West is our Senior Internship Program participant this spring. Credit: Michael Dinan
Our senior is Donovan West, whose sports articles have been appearing on the New Canaanite since his sophomore year, earning multiple awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. Our readers will see West’s byline appear on a wide range of community news stories for the next three weeks.
Here are the top-5 placement fields for SIP seniors, according to DelMazio:
- Business Management & Administration
- Education
- Marketing/Sales
- Audio/Video Technology & Communication
- Health Sciences
“We are incredibly proud of our seniors and grateful to the many local businesses, organizations, and professionals who are opening their doors to mentor and support our students,” she said.
We interviewed West at New Canaan Library last week, as an introduction to our readers. Here’s a transcription of our conversation.
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New Canaanite: Tell us about your interest in journalism. Where does it come from?
Donovan West: I think it first started sophomore year of high school. I was looking through the electives catalog for, and I saw journalism and it just seemed like a class that could bring some real life experience to my life, so I took it. I had always read articles on ESPN, on the New Canaanite, things like that. And I was always interested in writing, and then these past couple years, I’ve worked my way up to editor-in-chief of the New Canaan Courant [NCHS newspaper]. I did some sports reporting for the New Canaanite. So my passion for journalism has grown, and now I’m going to Northwestern, majoring in journalism.
Is that your decision, you’re going to the Medill School of Journalism?
Yes.
Wow, that’s exciting.
It’s very exciting.
What was your experience like when you took up that elective? Was it with Mr. McAteer?
Yes it was. It was a new type of learning experience, a new type of writing compared to the regular English classes that we take in high school. There’s more independence, and it’s more on you to tell the story in whatever way you want to tell it. I think just writing more and more stories, gaining more and more experience was really fun for me. And just trying out, say, different leads and relating—I’m mainly focused on sports—but relating that to more societal issues. It was really enjoyable for me.
Do you have an idea of what areas of the news you’re most interested in? I know you as a sports writer, but it sounds like you had a wider range of stories that you did for the school paper. What is your thought at this early stage about journalism as a big category?
In addition to sports, I’ve done pieces on mental health awareness. I’ve worked with the special education program. So just giving voices to those that kind of can’t always speak for themselves, in some ways.
What are you looking forward to about this internship over the next few weeks?
I think gaining additional experience in more of a professional environment, just becoming a better journalist and trying out different ways to work. I think I’ll practice different skills on this internship versus The Courant. More day-to-day reporting, I’d say.
What are some other things about you that our readers might want to know?
Right now my main focus outside of school is volleyball. We’re doing pretty well. We just beat Darien for the third time in program history, which is pretty cool. I also serve as the president of Feeding 500, which is a nonprofit that runs stands at Walter Stewart’s. We collect food and money for the Open Door shelter. Other than that, it’s school and journalism, writing different pieces.
What are you most looking forward to about Northwestern?
In terms of journalism, the resources that Medill has are endless, whether that’s broadcasting or the actual writing. Using all those resources, reporting on the Big 10 is something that I look forward to. But also I think just entering the college lifestyle, and it’s near Chicago, so there’s lots of things to do. The college environment and atmosphere is what I’m looking forward to.