Newspapers host interns from Center for Editing Excellence

The Azle News, Hill Country News, Pleasanton Express and Tyler County Booster have welcomed summer interns from among the 11 college students and recent college graduates who completed eight days of intensive virtual training at the University of Texas through the Center for Editing Excellence, operated by the Dow Jones News Fund, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Press Association.
During the Center for Editing Excellence training, the Associated Press allowed  students to use the wire services for content and instructional material and School Newspapers Online hosted the Southwest Journalist website.
Newspaper professionals, visiting faculty and UT journalism faculty moderated the sessions in this 23rd residency program at UT-Austin. In the latter half of the pre-internship training, participants produced three issues of a model daily newspaper, the Southwest Journalist, as well as a companion online and social media product, swjournalist.com. Grants from the News Fund and contributions from participating news organizations cover the participants’ training. The interns serve 10 to 12 weeks at participating newspapers.
Kaylee Pippins is interning this summer at her local newspapers, The Azle News and The Springtown Epigraph. Pippins is currently a junior at Tarleton State University where she studies English and technical writing. At The Azle News and The Springtown Epigraph, Pippins is the resident sports reporter. She writes sports features, takes photographs, designs sports pages, and assists with the designing and editing of annual inserts like the HealthCare special section and the Area Guide magazine.
Lilly Chandler is the summer intern at the Hill Country News. A sophomore English major at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Chandler began her writing career on the Thrall High School UIL Journalism team and yearbook staff. She has freelanced for the HCN in the past and will cover local government, as well as help with editing and page design.
Gabriella Ruiz is interning this summer with the Pleasanton Express. This is the second internship with the Express for the Texas A&M Corpus Christi student. She previously interned during her senior year at Charlotte High School, 2018-19. She was also a recipient of the Pleasanton Express Sammie Franklin Journalism Scholarship in 2019. At Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Ruiz is an honor student and staff member of the student newspaper, The Island Waves.
Emily Eddins is interning this summer with her hometown newspaper, the Tyler County Booster. Eddins is currently a senior at Texas A&M University in College Station, where she studies biological sciences. At the Booster, she will take on general assignments as a reporter and photographer.