Celebrate Our Summer Intern Natalia Shirasaki-Krahn

This summer we had the privilege of having Natalia Shirasaki-Krahn intern with us at the Dodge County Pionier, the Campbellsport News and the Kewaskum Statesman. She began her work in June and continued at the papers until the end of August.

Natalia is going into her second year at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Starting college last year, she originally wanted to go on the law school track. However, she discovered journalism in her first year and it stuck with her. Now journalism is her major but she is still deciding whether to go into journalism, specifically broadcast journalism, or attend law school.

Mayville is where she calls home and she went to school in Mayville her whole life. Knowing the area so well is part of what made this internship a great time for her.

“It was like I got to do what I love while also giving back to my community so it was really nice that I got an internship here,” Shirasaki-Krahn said.

While interning she got a plethora of experience. From attending school board and village board meetings to writing about a 1st place winner of the Rockonsin Garage Band Competition, which was her favorite story. She also proofread and edited stories, got behind the scenes looks at how newspapers are laid out and attended group meetings where we discussed the newspapers’ futures.

Shirasaki-Krahn mentioned, “I’ve been able to experience the field firsthand. I get to see how each of you [reporters] work. Not even just the reporters, but also the other staff. I got to experience what it’s like to work on a deadline and I also got to give back to my community.”

Natalia explained how an internship was an important experience to have during the summer because it shows her what the journalism field actually looks like. She said that in school everyone does the same assignments and it isn’t always hyper specific to the field she is studying. Additionally, there isn’t as much room for creativity in school assignments compared to what an internship offered her.

“What I’m learning in school is obviously important and I can apply that here but also when you get to work in new places, you have to adjust to different roles and different work environments,” explained Shirasaki-Krahn.

Over the course of her internship, she furthered her writing and photography skills, learned important jargon in village and school board meetings and was a fantastic person to work with.

According to Natalia the biggest lesson she learned was, “Learning to love what you do, I think that’s important. Not doing things because you need to, but doing things also because you like to do it. And I really enjoyed this internship, like it almost didn’t even feel like an internship because I enjoyed it so much.”

At the Campbellsport News, the Kewaskum Statesman and the Dodge County Pionier we thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated having her work with us and we can’t wait to see what she accomplishes in the future.