By Rachel Lewis

Rachel Lewis

Working at Michigan Public this summer as the environmental reporting intern was an eye-opening experience. I learned so much about environmental reporting and was introduced to the vast world of radio.

Growing up, my parents always had Michigan Public Radio playing in the car, but I never thought about how much work goes into a live 24/7 radio broadcast until I was sitting in the office, trying to figure out how to tell my 700-word story in under 30 seconds, or how to find the best 12-second soundbite from a 30-minute interview.

Michigan Public operates as a well-oiled machine, and every staff member I worked with made sure I fit in. Nobody hesitated to take time out of their busy days to answer my many questions. It didn’t take long for me to feel like a part of the team.

By my second day I had my first byline, and after a couple weeks of training I was expected to chase stories just like any seasoned reporter.

Reporting on the environment definitely comes with its ups and downs.

It was tough to report on highly scientific stories. Often these stories were on topics I had very little background knowledge of, but I tried to use this to my advantage. If it was something I was confused about, then it would definitely be something readers would be confused about too. This taught me to be extremely thorough with my research and interviews.

Reporting on the environment can also get depressing. It wasn’t uncommon for me to speak with a scientist who would describe some really bad thing that was happening, and then basically say there’s nothing we can do about it. While this is definitely one side of environmental reporting, the other side I got to witness was seeing how real people are doing real things to make the world a better place.

One of my favorite stories was about a scientist who trained his dog how to search for endangered turtles, and another was about local nonprofits helping to reduce food waste.

Working for Michigan Public confirmed my love of journalism in many ways, but the thing I will miss most about my experience is the work culture and the people I met there.

I would often joke that my internship experience has given me too high of a standard for when I am out looking for my first job.

It is no secret that this summer was a tough one for public media. Fears about losing federal funding were talked about often and openly in the newsroom. As a budding journalist looking to enter the workforce, this was scary for me.

But being at Michigan Public showed me how much hope there still is. I got to see firsthand the determination and resiliency of a newsroom when every single reporter is dedicated to producing fact-based and thoroughly reported news for the public. I am so grateful that I got to be a small part of that this summer.