Inside MyRye.com with Anika Kini

MyRye.com welcomes college and high school interns from the City of Rye. If you have an interest in writing, editing or photography, please get in touch with us. One of our Rye Country Day School summer interns in 2023 was Anika Kini, currently a junior at RCDS. She completed this Q&A interview with us at the conclusion of her internship. You can read interviews with various MyRye.com interns.

Your Name: Anika Kini

Your Title: MyRye.com intern

MyRye.com: Describe yourself in one word: Ambitious

What appealed to you about local journalism and the MyRye.com internship?

Kini: While I have always had a passion for writing, journalism was a field that I had not yet opened myself up to. I knew that I wanted to improve my communication skills and become more involved in the Rye community, so interning at MyRye.com seemed like the perfect way for me to achieve those goals. 

Describe a typical day during your internship.

Kini: A typical day would start at around 10am with an online stand-up meeting. After the meeting, I would head to town to talk to the local hair and nail salons about completing a Q&A for MyRye.com. I would then head home and email or call more individuals who I was hoping to interview. I spent some time at the end of most days writing up the Pet Adoption posts and updating the work tracker. 

Tell us about one or two of your assignments. 

Kini: One of my most memorable assignments was when I covered the world’s largest rubber duck coming to Rye. I got to take pictures of the record breaking duck, and I went around getting quotes from people who had come to see it. I even talked to the owner of the duck about his motivations for purchasing it. I was forced to step outside of my comfort zone and talk to people from all around New York who I did not know. It’s safe to say that I never imagined seeing a 61 ft rubber duck in Rye, so it was also a very entertaining experience! 

What happens at the 10am stand-up meeting? 

Kini: At the 10am stand-up meeting, each intern would go around and tell the group about any updates or leads that they have gotten. We were able to give each other advice if someone was stuck or needed help. During the stand-ups, Jay would also assign events that needed to be covered to the interns. 

The MyRye.com interns heard from various guest speakers, all with connections to local media. What were three of the more interesting things you learned? 

Kini: 

1. From Mark Lungariello I learned about many of the factors that have led to the decline of local newspapers. 
2. From Lisa Buchman I learned about the way in which people working in communications and journalism are using AI as a tool rather than a substitute to enhance their work. 
3. From Chris Falcone I learned about the importance of building personal connections with people in your community in order to gain contacts that will provide information and insight for future stories. 

Will you continue to study writing, English or journalism as part of your academic and extracurricular activities? 

Kini: I definitely plan to continue studying English throughout the rest of my high school career. I will be writing for my school paper and taking a creative writing elective! Outside of school, I am the co-host of a podcast, so I plan to take the skills relating to journalism that I learned from MyRye.com and use them to conduct interviews on the podcast. 

Thanks, Anika!