The Boston Globe, affectionately called The Globe, is the largest newsroom in the region. Each semester, the Boston Globe does a Co-Op that allows college students interested in the newspaper industry to have some professional experience. This Co-Op, is a coveted position within the Emerson College Journalism Department’s community.
As a newsroom that hires employees that bring incredible value to the newsroom, it comes with no surprise that Emerson College Journalism students are hired here as Interns yearly. We caught up with two #emterns who were working through the Globe Co-Op before COVID-19 to talk to them about their experiences earlier this semester.
Grace Griffin is an Interdisciplinary (IDIP) Major studying Art History and Magazine Production in the class of 2020. Stephanie Purifoy is a Journalism Major graduating in the Fall of 2020.
So what are your responsibilities at your internship right now?
GRACE: “I do a lot of admin stuff with the other Co-Ops. So we get mail, we do weekly things like author reading bookings. We just get together like all the stuff that goes up in the paper weekly, and then we get to pitch stories. We also get assignments to cover stories. So we kind of just do whatever they need us to do, but we also have time to pitch our own stuff and write our own stuff too.”
STEPHANIE: “I’m basically on call at the Metro Desk during my shift in case anything comes up. My shifts look really different day to day. Sometimes if there’s nothing going on, then I’ll just chill at my desk. I’ll be looking on Twitter for things that are happening and whatnot.
I watch the local news, make sure that we’re not missing anything. So it could be that or it could be like, if there’s some sort of event going on, I’ll go out and cover it. Some sort of breaking news situation like a fire, shooting, what have you. Sometimes they’ll send me out and cover that as well. Yeah, so it’s kind of just like, I’m just kind of there like on call all the time to do basically whatever they needed for you to do.”
What drew you to this specific opportunity and how did you find out about it?
GRACE: “So I was a journalism major before I switched my major, and it was always something that I knew people who were doing the Boston Globe Co Op, I guess it’s a pretty big deal for journalism students, so I always kind of knew it existed. Then when I applied, I kind of just threw in an application to see what would happen. And yeah, they wanted to interview me. So pretty much since then, since freshman year, I kind of knew I had wanted to apply to it, just because like the Boston Globe is such a big paper. And I wanted that newsroom experience.”
How did you find out you got a position with the Co-Op?
GRACE: “So I had my first interview, actually on campus in the Career Development Center. And then after that, the person who interviewed me called me and asked for me to come for another interview. So I met with a bunch of editors that I actually worked with now, and then I got an email one day, while I was in the shower, actually, I got out and I checked my phone and it was just like, ‘Oh, we want to offer you the position.’”
What’s one experience you’ll always remember from The Globe or one that you’re looking forward to?
GRACE: “….And one of the people on the team actually, like knew about my column that they read from The Beacon, which was really cool because he recognized me from that. It was just nice to know someone was reading my work from The Globe. And another one is I did my first food story. I’ve never written about food but I found this vegan taqueria that was expanding. And I just kind of asked the Food Editor about it. And she was like, “Yeah, totally go cover that.” So I got to go, and I ate there, and it was delicious. Then I interviewed like the owner, and some workers and stuff. It was a really cool experience. It’s definitely my favorite story I’ve done so far.”
STEPHANIE: “I mean, there are really cool things that you get to do. two weeks ago, I had to go out and cover a bunch of watch parties for the Democratic candidates. And that was like really cool, really fun, and a really good atmosphere. In that sort of situation like it’s really cool to see how people respond to you. In those situations most of them were really nice and welcoming and wanted to talk to me and whatnot. Then there are other situations like, last week, there was a family from Whitman. There were like eight of them in the family, they went down to Florida to Disney World to go on a trip, and they got into a really bad car accident and four of the family members ended up dying, including a five year old girl and an 11 year old boy. So last week, I went to go and cover a community vigil for that. That is like the opposite of the campaign parties, everyone’s really going through a lot in those kind of situations. So I think it’s really important for you to be there and also take away those lessons of how you act in those kinds of situations.”
Do you have advice for students interested in this opportunity or similar opportunities?
STEPHANIE: “Honestly you need to get clips. Like if you’re gonna work at The Globe, I know The Globe in particular, but like other internships as well, like, they want to be able to see what kind of body of work you have and what kind of level of experience you have. And so like, you know, whether that’s working for The Beacon, WEBN, WERS, like just like, make sure that you have like a large breadth of work that you can kind of draw from and show them like, “Hey, look, I’ve already done this before. I know what I’m doing.” They don’t want they don’t want to pull people who are still kind of like, you know, like riding a tricycle, you know?”
Do you have anything else you’d want to add?
STEPHANIE: “I would just say always keep your options open. You know, I never thought that I would be interested in breaking news and like police reporting. And then I got into it at The Beacon and found out that I really, really like it, and that’s kind of like my thing now. And so yeah, like, you just have to be willing to like, try new things and keep your options open.”
