Meet NCHS Senior Intern Zoë L’Henaff

We’re thrilled to welcome New Canaan High School senior Zoë L’Henaff as our intern through the end of the school year. Hundreds of NCHS seniors poured into businesses throughout the community on Tuesday as the popular Senior Internship Program got underway. The program is overseen by New Canaan resident and SIP Coordinator Kelly DelMazio.

We put some questions to L’Henaff on her first day as a New Canaanite reporter, most of which was spent at the New Canaan Library green on a clear, sunny day.

Here’s a transcription of our interview.

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New Canaanite: Tell us about your interest in journalism and your experience at the high school. 

Zoë L’Henaff: For me, I always knew that I really loved writing, and I thought it was just such a nice outlet to have. I joined our journalism class at the high school. 

What year did you join? 

I was a sophomore. My freshman year I was thinking of it, but I ended up going with computer science. But my sophomore year I was really interested in just trying something different that was still within the program parameters of something that I know I enjoy. So I went with journalism. I only ended up doing one year with The Courant, but I absolutely loved it. It was the full year and I loved all the work that I got to do. I ended up being the sports editor and that was a special experience because in a town like New Canaan, there’s always something going on with sports. So getting to report on that was really nice and learning how to do the media and everything like that—taking the pictures and using pictures to begin that story and kind of grab the reader—was so special. And the same thing with the infographics. All the graphics that we did it was the same kind of feeling. 

What are you looking forward to most about this internship?

I’m excited to get to learn how to apply all those skills in a professional setting, and learning even more about how this works and what I can be doing, because I really do hope that I can join my university’s school paper. I was looking forward to doing that, as well, next year. 

Tell us about next year. What are your plans? Do you have any ideas in terms of areas of study? 

I will be going to the George Washington University next year in D.C. and I plan to study—so fitting for the school—international affairs and history, with a minor in music. With anything in D.C. in that realm of politics and international affairs, it’s so heavily intertwined with journalism. And so I think that’s such a good skill to have and to know how to do, and to just be immersed in that world in general.

Where do you think your interest in international affairs comes from?

I think that really started when I began Model UN my freshman year. I started it because my sister was in it and I had such a hard time with public speaking. So I tried Model UN and then, my senior year, I ended up being captain of the Model UN team. And that launched me into that realm of international affairs and diplomacy. 

These next few weeks when you’re reporting for the New Canaanite, you’re going to be out and about the community, meeting new people, introducing people, stopping people on the street. What would you like them to know about you? 

That’s a good question. I think what I’d like them to know is how interested I am in this community and how much I want to know and be involved in. Because I do love this town and I loved growing up here. And I do really want people to see my interest in this town.