Inside MyRye.com with Intern Sierra Desai

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 High School senior interns in the Spring of 2023 was Sierra Desai, currently a freshman at Northeastern University. 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: Sierra Desai

Your Title: MyRye.com intern

MyRye.com: Describe yourself in one word: Curious 

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

Desai: Despite my lack of experience in a news publication, I’ve always had an interest in writing and photography as well as connecting with new people. What appealed to me the most about the MyRye.com internship was that I would be covering local events and places that I am already familiar with, making it a good way to explore my interest in journalism and connect with the community without stepping too far outside my capabilities.

Describe a typical day during your internship. 

Desai: Every weekday we begin with a 10 a.m. stand-up meeting at Jay’s house to go over the game plan for that day and assess where everyone is at with their projects. After this meeting, I go off to complete my tasks for that day which are usually photographing different locations around Rye and then uploading, editing, and cataloging the pictures on Google Drive to update the photo bank. I’ve also covered a number of different local events which require me to attend the events to take pictures and interview key people to help build a story, and then create a rough draft for the article and send it off to the editor.

Tell us about one or two of your assignments. 

Desai: One of my favorite assignments was when I covered Soul Ryeders’ half marathon and 5k charity run. I got to meet and learn about some of the amazing runners and volunteers while I was photographing the event. So many people came out to support and there were even a number of live music performances. It was just an overall great experience to be in the high-energy environment and feel such a sense of community, it didn’t even feel like work to me. Another assignment I liked was when I met with the Rye Town Park director who took me around the park so that I could take pictures to update the photo bank. I got to see the inside of the administration building and learned a lot about the history of the park. 

What happens at the 10 am stand-up meeting?

Desai: The weekday standup meetings are a way for us to assess where everyone is at with their work and to assign new projects and tasks to people and are a mix of online and in-person depending on whether we are having a speaker come in to talk that day. Since there is a lot that is done online and everyone’s working on different projects during the internship, the meetings are a way for us to connect and hear from each other. 

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?

Desai: 

1. I learned from Catherine Cioffi the importance of news reporters and how the skills you learn as a reporter can be translated over to many different career paths in communications. 
2. I also learned from Catherine Cioffi that building connections with everyone and anyone is crucial for journalists in building a reputation and getting valuable information for stories. 
3. I learned from Jedd Gould how important local businesses are for local news since their ads are usually what fund the newspapers and allow them to continue operating. 

Where are you headed to college?

Desai: I’ll be headed to Boston this coming fall of 2023 to attend Northeastern University.

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

Desai: I’ll be taking a combined major in Communications and Media Studies so I will definitely be taking a lot of writing and journalism classes. I’m also interested to be involved with Northeastern’s Avenue Magazine and news channel. 

Thanks, Sierra!