MyRye.com welcomes 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 2022 was Fiona Degnan. She completed this Q&A interview with us at the conclusion of her internship.
Your Name: Fiona Degnan
Your Title: MyRye.com Spring 2022 intern
MyRye.com: What appealed to you about local journalism and the MyRye.com internship?
Degnan: I wanted to learn more about my community in ways that I normally would not. I also enjoy writing.
Describe a typical day during your internship.
Degnan: A typical day starts at 10am with the morning stand-up. After that, I usually try to do what I need to take care of on the computer, such as writing out the recorded interviews on a Google Doc, uploading photos, calling restaurants and sending emails. Later in the day, I would visit businesses to conduct interviews in person and hand out questions.
Tell us about one or two of your assignments.
Degnan: My first assignment that I worked on was talking to chefs at local restaurants about their experiences, which was very interesting. The first chef I interviewed talked about coming to America from Italy in the 90s and wanting to become a chef because he loved his culture. The second chef I interviewed told me that his first mentor told him food was a very sacred thing because it enters people’s bodies and becomes their fuel, their thoughts and their energy. I learned that different people have different reasons for choosing to work in their field, and there are many different paths to reaching the same place.
I also covered an event, the Memorial Day event at the Jay Cemetery. There, I learned more about the history of that cemetery and the process of restoring and maintaining the Jay Estate.
What happens at the 10am stand-up meeting?
Degnan: On Mondays – Wednesdays, this is a meeting with the site coordinator and all of the interns to talk about how our projects are progressing. On Thursdays and Fridays, we meet with people who have worked in local journalism, and often national journalism and communications. One intern prepares questions for them and asks them, and then we all get a chance to ask questions.
The MyRye.com interns heard from seven guest speakers, all with connections to local media. What were three of the more interesting things you learned?
Degnan:
- I learned more about Patch, including that the company was a start up and the way it was organized, with a very small team of journalists working in each town. (Lisa Buchman)
- One other interesting thing I learned about was the corruption scandal that the manager of the Rye Golf Club was involved with in 2012, with the hiring firm they used being owned by the manager’s wife. (Chris Falcone)
- I learned about the purpose of Report for America, a non profit that sends journalists to communities whose local media outlets are struggling to help out. (Cara Erickson)
Where are you headed to college?
Degnan: I am going to Smith College in Massachusetts.
Do you plan to study writing, English or journalism as part of your academic and extracurricular activities?
Degnan: I do plan to study writing, not as my major, but as part of my coursework, since becoming more skilled at communicating is very important to me. I also plan to get involved with the school newspaper and literary magazine.
Thanks and best of luck Fiona!
This Q&A was completed in June 2022 when Barajas was completing her MyRye.com internship.
