By Alisa Gershman
The Osprey Observer is a popular source for local news in Southeastern Hillsborough County. Every summer, a handful of interns are selected to work with the team on writing articles or creating ads for their issues. The interns range from high school to college students who have journalistic ambitions for the future or just want a taste of writing for the summer. This year’s wonderful interns include Sara Kitchin, Jamie Lu, Solomon Bristow, Gunnar Wagner, Elise Rebhahn and Alisa Gershman.
Sara Kitchin
Kitchin is a senior at the University of West Florida. She found out about the Osprey Observer through a recent family move to FishHawk.
“I have worked on different school papers for years, including the paper at my university,” she explained.
Reporting has always been a passion of hers and she knew she wanted to pursue it over the summer.
Her favorite piece was visiting and writing about the Wawa Summer Fun Days at Bok Tower Gardens. She plans on continuing her journalistic career past college and finding a paper to work with in the future.
Jamie Lu
Lu will be a senior at Strawberry Crest High School. After finding out about the Osprey Observer, she knew it would be the perfect place for her to hold an internship throughout the summer.
Her favorite part has been hearing all the different stories from around the community and meeting new people, which she said made her realize “how vibrant our community is.”
She also plans on continuing with journalism through her last year of high school and into college, hoping to find her future career within that realm.
Solomon Bristow
Bristow is a rising senior at Newsome High School. Through word of mouth, he discovered this internship and decided to take it as a chance to experience “what it meant to be a journalist.”
The program provided him with material he wouldn’t normally think to write about, so he felt as though it broadened his horizons in a positive light. He plans to attend college with these journalistic aspirations in mind.
Gunnar Wagner
Wagner is a senior at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Plant City. He learned about the internship through one of his professors.
“My favorite part of this internship has been by far trying out the new roller coaster Phoenix Rising at Busch Gardens. That was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it,” said Wagner, having the chance to experience it before the ride was unveiled to the public.
He is planning on enlisting in the Air Force after graduating and hoping to take up filmmaking down the line.
Elise Rebhahn
Rebhahn is a junior attending the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. With a graphic design focus, she joined the team of interns for the Observer to gain more experience with designing and formatting ads for the paper as an extra level of expertise for her resume.
“My favorite part of the internship has been seeing the final result of each ad be run in the paper. It makes me happy to know that each client I worked with feels that the ads are fit to have them represent their companies/brands,” she said.
Two ads in particular she enjoyed were for Sharkcon and A Child’s Haven.
Her plans are not set for after college, but she hopes to find her place somewhere in the world of graphic design, working on branding or possibly package design.
Alisa Gershman
Gershman is a rising junior at Newsome High School. As online editor-in-chief of her school’s newspaper, she found out about the Osprey Observer internship through her journalism teacher. Wanting the experience of working on a real paper, she felt it would be the best fit for her over the summer.
“I’ve loved getting to reach out to people from around the area and hear their stories, whether it’s an anniversary or how a business started,” she said.
Her favorite piece was covering the 1Voice Academy Summer Camp, where she was also a volunteer and is an officer for the club at her school.
While journalism is a strong passion of hers, she plans on switching paths and hopes to attend the University of Florida to study biology and eventually going into publishing research on cancer cells.
