Intern Diaries: Sarah at INsite

For some, summertime doesn’t mean downtime. It’s just another opportunity to travel, get an internship or otherwise move up in the world. But since you can’t do it all, INsite tracked down a handful of students in places from Thailand to Miami, New York to Paris. Every week, we’ll share their experiences. This week, we’ll be starting close to home with our very own intern Sarah.

My name’s Sarah Jackson, and I’m an editorial intern for INsite now. Just started this month. Cool, huh? I think it’ll be a great resume-booster. It’s been interesting thus far, but also nerve-racking.

For one of my first assignments, I had to cover The Storytellers’ Summit for the blog. I was asked to write a preview of the event and interview an organizer. That is, I’d have to interview one of my professors because the journalism college was hosting the summit. Damn it.

Sure enough, I ended up scheduling an interview with Master Lecturer Mike Foley. You know those people who speak their mind no matter what, even if it’s offensive? Well, he’s one of them. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate his candidness as it makes for hysterical lectures (he teaches reporting at the University of Florida), but I didn’t want to be subjected to his brutal honesty. I had just finished his grueling course on reporting. Foley—everyone calls him by his last name—taught me all the rules and tricks of interviewing, and now I had to attempt to remember them all.

Fast-forward to the day of the interview: As I inched my way toward the College of Journalism and Communications, my stomach started churning. I felt sick. I checked my cell phone for the time. I had a few minutes so I called my best friend, Jolynne, whom I also like to think of as my life coach. Whenever I have a dramatic tangent, she knows just what to say to soothe me.

“He’s just a professor,” she reassured me.
“Yeah, but he’s so…” I tried to explain before she cut me off.
“It’ll be fine,” she said.

After a couple of minutes, I had calmed down enough to make my way to Weimer Hall. As I ascended the steps to the third floor, I tried to remember everything he taught us in class. “Don’t stare at your notebook the whole time,” Foley’s voice popped into my head. “Be engaging.” “Listen to what the person is saying to develop questions.” Before I knew it, I was outside of his office. But he wasn’t there. Again, I felt another panic attack surging. But then I saw a note pinned to his door that listed two other rooms he might be in.

I took a deep breath and began my quest to find him. I went to the first room. He wasn’t there. And then the real panic began to set in. I sprinted to the next room while praying to God to find him in there. Sure enough, I heard Foley’s voice from the hallway. I stopped for a minute to pull myself together.

“It’s OK, Sarah,” I thought, giving myself a pep talk. “He didn’t forget about you; everything will be fine.”

Then I took another deep breath. “Hi, professor Foley. I’m Sarah. I’m here to interview you about The Storytellers’ Summit.”

“Are you nervous?” he pried, obviously noting my shaky voice.

“Yes,” I sheepishly admitted.

But he was nice. He reassured me. So I asked him if the nerves ever fade away, and he said that he still gets nervous before teaching a lecture. Can you imagine that? Even professor Foley—the Master Lecturer—gets nervous! Then he said, if he can get over his nerves, anyone can. And then I felt better.

-Sarah Jackson