MAILED: May 21, 2001
EAU CLAIRE—While most aspiring
journalists intern on small-town newspapers to gain experience in the real
world, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire student Leah Thorsen will be working
as an intern at The Washington Post in January 2002 and have a paid internship
at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the following summer. She also will receive
$1,400.
Thorsen, a junior journalism major from Grand Meadow,
Minn., is the fourth recipient of the Ann Devroy Fellowship. “I was
extremely excited when I found out about the award,” Thorsen said. “It’s
still kind of hard to believe. It’s such an amazing opportunity and a great
honor.”
Ann Devroy was a 1970 UW-Eau Claire alumna who went on to
become The Washington Post’s top White House reporter. Devroy, who joined The
Post’s newsroom in 1985, died in 1997 at the age of 49. Family, friends and
Post colleagues decided to honor her by establishing a journalism scholarship at
UW-Eau Claire.
“It’s really cool that The Post set this up when Ann
Devroy died and I think it’s great that the journalism department offers
this,” Thorsen said.
After graduating Thorsen said she wants to find a job on
a big newspaper covering legal affairs and doing hard breaking news. She got a
taste of what it would be like while interning last summer at the Post-Bulletin
in Rochester, Minn.
Thorsen said she is looking forward to following some of
the best reporters around. “It’s going to be exciting to go to The
Washington Post and Milwaukee; the contacts will be great,” Thorsen said. “I
hope to learn from people who do legal reporting.”
Meeting people and working in a fast-paced atmosphere are
just some of the things she enjoys about journalism. “I have a lot of
energy,” Thorsen said. “I like to do a lot of things at once. I’m more of
a deadline girl.”
Thorsen will serve as editor of The Spectator during the
fall 2001 semester. She has already served as a reporter, copy editor, chief
copy editor, editorial editor and managing editor. With The Spectator creating
an online version of their paper this semester, Thorsen’s duties have expanded
to include keeping the paper up to date and approving the Monday issue.
This summer she will intern at The Country Today in Eau
Claire.
Thorsen is very proud of not only her own work on The
Spectator, but that of the whole staff as well. “We have the second best
college newspaper in the Midwest,” she said. “It gives you a sense of
pride.” She also said that any one of her colleagues could have won the award.
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RM/NW
[Administrative Offices]
[News Bureau]
Janice B. Wisner
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu
Updated: May 21, 2001
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