Super Science and Science World

When I was offered the fall internship at Scholastic, it was the best thing to happen to me since moving to New York. I said a prayer of gratitude and called my mom in California.

“Guess what?” I said into the answering machine. “I was offered the internship at Scholastic!”

I responded quickly with my acceptance and to ask about the dress code. Since I didn’t have an apartment, or access to any of my clothes, I wanted to make sure I had appropriate clothing packed in my suitcase. Beth, the woman I met with, assured me it was pretty casual. My Converse would have to do.

My first day included a news meeting. I was supposed to come up with five news pitches. Or so I thought. I knew the next issue they were working on was February, so I kept in mind timely things like holidays. I was last to “pitch,” and by then I knew where I had gone wrong.

“Well since it’s going to be a leap year, I thought maybe something about the lunar cycle and what causes those, why we have leap years,” I said, wishing I could stop talking. “And since Groundhog Day is in February, maybe something about groundhogs and why they use those specifically.”

The other three people at the meeting just looked at me.

“I’m sorry, I misunderstood,” I started to say. The editorial director nodded and smiled.

“Well now you know how these meetings go,” she said. “We bring in science news stories from the week. So next time just bring in five news stories.”

I was pitching stories as you would at a newspaper: observing the events that will be current and figuring out a different angle or way to cover the same information. Scholastic has an easier way. Since they plan about six months ahead, it’s difficult to make the news current anyway. So they let the news do the work for them. They just pitch news that is current now in order to decide what to cover in an upcoming issue. I am much more useful at the weekly news meetings now, remembering to look for stories with good photos or numbers or cool science careers, all regular inclusions in the magazines.

Karina, one of the editors for the older grade level magazine, is particularly helpful. She stops by my desk to chat at least once a day. She tries to make sure everything is clear and explained to me, and she tells me about the process as it goes along. She also showed me how to read the production schedule I didn’t even know I had. I’m learning how this type of magazine works, and more importantly how smoothly professional publications run when everyone is organized and expected to meet their deadlines. I’ve only had previous experience with student-run publications, so it’s easy to see how things can get off-track.

My traditional journalism duties and responsibilities include, as mentioned, going to pitch meetings, although they are slightly different in nature. And I report and write short pieces for both grade levels, which is sometimes challenging because of the content. Science writing is different for me, and so is writing for a young audience. I often feel my journalism writing skills cross over into my English classes, but I have never written for children. I enjoy the challenge and continue to learn the best way to approach certain subjects. The most challenging part is staying within word count. Everything I’ve written so far has had to be 100 words or less. You can hardly say anything in 100 words! It’s about four to five sentences, and on top of that, it’s science writing. These concepts are not usually things kids have been studying. There’s a lot of explaining that needs to be done, like when we talk about coral reefs or how mountains are formed. So you have to condense a lot of information into clear sentences, but use an elementary school level vocabulary.

Some non-traditional journalism responsibilities I have include compiling a list of schools for an e-mail campaign for subscription to the magazine. Another regular responsibility is coming up with the Teacher Edition skills pages ideas and then creating those skills pages. (Scholastic produces lesson plans and skills pages based on each story covered in the magazine.) Some are fairly straightforward, like writing a paragraph and corresponding questions to check reading comprehension. Others are more difficult, like coming up with hands-on science experiments to re-create. For instance, I recently adapted an experiment about friction. Some require me to assess graphs and charts and create corresponding questions to check for comprehension of that, too.

My favorite thing to do is proofs. I get to help proofread all the pages for the magazines and the Teacher Editions. This is my favorite part because I know I’m awesome at it. It’s not subjective, like writing well can sometimes be classified. It’s concrete, because punctuation and grammar follow more rigid rules. And I have a great eye for details, like checking that the folio and page numbers are correct.

In addition to stories, Scholastic includes an answer to a reader’s question in each issue. I have been assigned to report and write several of these answers (they try to include an expert source). My favorite thing to happen so far at the internship was my phone call with a source for one of these questions. Vicki, a professor I contacted about how mountains form, was thrilled to talk to me. She couldn’t express how happy she was to help out with a science magazine for kids. She told me she remembers writing to a science Q and A column when she was a child, and how it started her love of asking questions and finding the answers. This is part of why she pursued a career in science. So she thinks writing about science topics for children is fabulous and important (those were her words!).

Overall, my time at Scholastic thus far has been both challenging and rewarding. I am gaining valuable experience and, just as importantly, confidence in my experience and skills and the contributions I can make to a team. I would love to continue working with Scholastic, but if that doesn’t happen, I know I will be taking with me useful assets for both my professional and personal growth. I am happy to be at Scholastic, and I am grateful for the opportunities it has provided.