This fall, I had the rewarding opportunity to work as the intern at Wake Forest Magazine. This was a wonderful experience that placed me in situations I would have never encountered in the classroom, growing me as a storyteller and a communicator over the course of the semester. I wrote two stories to be published in the spring and summer issues of the magazine. The first was about Bri Butler, a Wake Forest alum and dancer on the STOMP stage, and the second was about APO, Wake Forest’s co-ed service fraternity. The chance to write for a real audience with a real readership helped me to learn and practice a keenness of audience and voice. I got to watch and take part in detailed and broad decisions that are made  with each step of building a magazine. One of my favorite parts about the internship, too, was the opportunity to get to know and learn from Maria Henson and the rest of the magazine team. They helped me grow as a reporter, writer, and person by giving me challenges and teaching me how to handle them, editing my work closely and giving specific feedback, and listening to and knowing me well.

In particular, Bri’s dynamic and purposeful adventures led to an interview that was full of life. Everything that Bri says and does teems with meaning, so writing the story was really a process of presenting to the reader her life as beautifully and naturally as possible. It was so exciting to me to hear and tell Bri’s story because, in telling her story, I got to tell a part of Wake Forest’s story, too.  

Read more about Bri: https://magazine.wfu.edu/2020/01/21/dancing-machine/