By Anne Harpham
Advertiser Senior Editor

Every summer, a tradition continues in most newsrooms across the country. The Advertiser is no exception.

New faces and bylines appear — and then disappear at the end of summer. It's the annual influx of interns — college students who gain experience in their chosen field, earn a paycheck and bring their own brand of energy to the newsroom.

Over the years, we have had interns working in almost all departments of the newsroom — reporting, taking photos, editing, laying out pages and designing graphics.

Generally, we expect interns to have enough schooling and experience that they can be given routine assignments. Many have proven over the years that they can handle complex stories and assignments with ease. It is always our hope that by the end of the summer, they can do the same work we expect of regular staff members.

The interns are mentored by their editors and other staff and gain from that feedback as well as other interaction with the staff.

In fact, 2002 intern Shayna Coleon who is spending her fourth summer with us, commented that when she arrived a The Advertiser after her freshman year in college she was terrified and didn't know what to expect. But, she said, she soon felt "like I was part of a family."

Many companies employ summer interns, and for those that do, the intent is to play a role in training future professionals.

Classroom learning can't be replaced but neither can on-the-job learning. Whether it is getting the basics of how to write a news story or discussing the ethical dilemmas that journalists face, book learning and hypothetical discussions become real when the interns roll up their sleeves and become part of the news-gathering process.

The internship program benefits the students who participate, and it benefits us and the readers. We hope that we are helping to train better journalists, whether they work at The Advertiser some day or end up somewhere else.

This summer, four interns are working at The Advertiser — in reporting, copy editing and page design. Two are reporters — and intern veterans, having worked at The Advertiser during previous summers. One is a page designer, and another is a copy editor.

Page-design intern Dayton Wong is a May 2002 graduate of the University of Hawai'i with a degree in journalism. He has worked at the UH paper, Ka Leo 'O Hawai'i, as a contributing writer and page designer. He hopes to get his master's degree and start his own publication.

Kapono Dowson has embarked on her second career. She returned to school to get a master's degree in communication. This is her second summer as an Advertiser reporter intern.

Sarah Montgomery graduated in May from the University of Hawai'i with a bachelor's degree in journalism. At UH, she worked on the student newspaper as a copy editor for seven months.

Coleon graduated in May with a communication degree from the University of San Francisco.

We hire interns who are planning to pursue journalism careers. We generally hire college or graduate students only, and we offer only paid positions, not volunteer jobs. Students must submit a letter of application and examples of their work. In addition, they must take an internship test.

The Advertiser has a commitment to providing internships to Hawai'i students but we do not make decisions on the basis of what school they attend, whether here or on the Mainland. This summer, the Hawai'i chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association is helping finance one of the internships.

For further information on internships, please contact Shauna Goya at sgoya@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2425.

Senior editor Anne Harpham is the reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.