Valuable experience

We’d like to welcome our new photographers, Emalee Sweet and Owen Cummings, to the News Letter Journal family. 

We are excited to be showcasing their talents in the newspaper this week. NLJ is always willing to train and employ young people who have an interest in photography, reporting, sales, videography, graphic design, social media, or customer service.

Not only does NLJ produce a weekly printed newspaper, we have an online presence with multiple platforms: on our website, newslj.com, a weekly newsletter, Newc Now, Top of Main podcast, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube. With all these options, there are a number of ways to utilize talented individuals who want to learn and earn some extra money.

NLJ has a long history of employing student interns. Currently we employ four interns: Summer Bonnar is attending college; and Cummings, Preslee Fitzwater and Josie Smith are high school students. At the Wyoming Press Association convention in January, Bonnar and Fitzwater each won a state award for NLJ.

Some of NLJ’s past interns include Kyle Jorrey, Mark Keierleber, Palak Patel, brothers Jesse, Louie and Lloyd Mullen, sisters Chrissa and Kati Dean, Austin Harley, Nicole Lebsack, and Hannah Gross. By providing high school and college internships, these students build impressive portfolios, and in some cases state and national awards, to present to prospective employers. These accomplishments can also help students applying for scholarships and other applications.

When my oldest daughter was in college, she needed to earn money during Christmas break. Our designer happened to be on vacation at the time, so she designed ads for NLJ that Christmas. I recall former NLJ editor Tom Mullen saying, “Kim, your daughter is designing ads!” 

While she really needed extra cash for college, she added NLJ to the list of her work history. It was a few years later, after she completed her bachelor’s degree and landed her first job interview, we learned the value of her newspaper experience. One of the first questions her prospective employer asked while looking at her resume was, “I see you’ve worked for a newspaper, can you design a brochure?” She was amazed that of all the things listed on her resumé, her employment at the News Letter Journal was important to them — and we were proud and happy that she landed the job!

At a time when it is difficult to find and hire people to work in any profession, the NLJ staff is always willing to train and work with young people with a desire to learn. We are flexible and work around school activities and schedules for students, and working for a newspaper may even help you down the road in your future endeavors.     

You can earn money working part-time for NLJ during the school year, summers and college breaks. Join the News Letter Journal team today and learn from our talented award-winning staff! Stop by the NLJ office at 14 W. Main St. or email circulation@newslj.com to learn more.