My internship with The Clarkston News is complete and I could not be any happier with how it went this summer.
I remember walking in the office back at the beginning of May nervous and afraid of what the next three months were going to bring.
The nerves took a couple days to go away, but once I became used to going to the office every day and talking to everyone there and starting to write the stories, the nerves went away and I was excited for the rest of this internship.
I was expecting to shadow the reporters at The Clarkton News and learn from them and see how they interview people and write their stories, but I was told right away by Editor Phil Custodio I would get the chance to write stories every week and was very surprised.
Getting the opportunity to write an article every week and have people read them was incredible. I felt like I was an actual reporter and not just an intern.
During this internship, I learned how to take the right picture for an article. Taking a picture is more difficult than it seems.
You have to make sure the picture is focused before you take it. I learned that when I attended the Dare to Dream basketball camp in June and had a lot of blurry pictures.
Overall, I improved on my picture-taking skills throughout this internship and am pleased with how I grew in that aspect.
I stepped out of my comfort zone throughout the internship and did things I never thought I would ever do.
Asking people if they could be in the weekly People Poll was challenging at first, but I got used to it after a while and became more comfortable with it.
I learned a lot from this internship and I know everything I learned from this internship will help me with whatever I do in the future.
I thank The Clarkston News for giving me the opportunity to have an internship with them this summer and I am extremely excited to go back to Northern Michigan University for another year of school.

Outside of my internship, I work for Clarkston SCAMP, which people know is the five week summer camp for children with special needs.
This is my ninth summer working at SCAMP. I started out as a volunteer for two years, then was a student aide for four years, and I am currently in my third year of being an adult aide.
I am in group J for the third straight year, with children ages 11 and 12.
Our group has gone bowling at Cherry Hill Lanes, to Dairy Queen for some ice cream, to the Indian Springs Spray Park in White Lake, and to the Sea Life Aquarium at Great Lakes Crossing.
Just like the other groups, we have been to Independence Oaks County Park for swimming, boating, nature walks, and to play on the playground.
The kids in my group enjoy the ball pit and bounce house that are in the gym. They enjoy going to the playground and playing tag.
I think I have gotten faster this summer since the kids always make me play tag with them.
This week, the SCAMP carnival takes place where the kids play games, win prizes and eat a snow cone and some cotton candy and have some fun in the sun for a few hours.
There are a couple kids in my group who I have been with for three straight summers.
In 2013, when I first met them, they were both a half a foot shorter than me and now they are both taller than me. They have enjoyed making fun of me this summer because they like saying that they are taller than a 21-year-old.
The kids at SCAMP are the most incredible kids in the world. They have fun every day and seeing them have fun is the best thing about SCAMP. Telling parents when they pick up their kid at the end of the day that their kid had fun is a wonderful thing and something that I really enjoy.
Every day, the kids show up with a smile on their face ready to have fun and they always have lots of enthusiasm and excitement for the activities scheduled on each day.
SCAMP 2015 has been tons of fun and I cannot wait to see what the last few days of SCAMP 2015 bring.