One Moment, Please… Journal Intern Prepares for Future

By Jason Sethre

This past spring, we received a request from Isaac Snyder, a 2024 Lanesboro High School graduate.  He was inquiring about a possible internship with the Fillmore County Journal.

We hadn’t planned on having an intern work for us over the summer months, but his inquiry prompted us to consider the possibility.  Within a week, we received an email from the Minnesota Newspaper Association about the annual internship program. The program encourages newspapers to provide internship opportunities to high school or college students.

We applied for the internship program, considering we already had a candidate to fill the position. There are 203 newspapers in 87 counties in the State of Minnesota, so the chances of earning this opportunity were definitely not guaranteed. The MNA program allows for up to 10 interns per year.

We lucked out and the Fillmore County Journal was selected as one of the MNA member newspapers to be able to hire a sponsored intern.

Isaac Snyder joined our team shortly after completing his sophomore year of college at Iowa State University. He’s majoring in marketing with a minor in Spanish.

As he began his internship in May, we set some goals in areas where we felt it would be beneficial for Isaac as well as our newspaper.

Over the summer months, Isaac “learned the ropes” of the newspaper business. 

He helped deliver Fillmore County Journal newspapers on Fridays. He joined me for delivery of Visit Bluff Country magazines in Rochester.

He helped us with organizing newspaper archives, killing weeds alongside the buildings and cleaning up the side of the building where the debris congregates.

He helped with designing happy ads for birthdays and anniversaries.  He helped with other ads as requested by the design team.

He helped with preparing bank deposits, which is more so on the accounting side.

Isaac helped me hang TVs at the NAPA hardware store in Preston and Rack’s Bar & Grill in Spring Valley.

He wrote quite a few feature stories. He worked on prospecting businesses for ads in the newspaper. He answered phone calls, helped out at the front counter and processed payments.

One of the most significant projects Isaac took on over the summer months related to “The Answer Book.”  We will be publishing copies of this publication for Fillmore County and Houston County, separately, and they will debut in January 2027.  This publication will be a perfect presentation of information for locals and newcomers alike.  Isaac worked with local community leaders representing cities, school districts and county government to help develop content for these two countywide publications.  Honestly, this progress we made wouldn’t be possible without Isaac Snyder’s involvement.  He became our knowledge-base for everything involving The Answer Book.

Essentially, Isaac had his hands in everything relating to the newspaper business.

The work we do is important and how he responded was important.  Isaac is the kind of person who doesn’t shy away from whatever comes his way.  If you ask for his help with something, he’ll get it done.

And, this is what will set Isaac apart from his peers in the future.

For any future graduates of high school or college, I think it is important to consider a few things.

First, become a great communicator. Take your writing skills seriously. The way you talk is the way you write. So consider that when you speak or write. When you prepare an email, write a presentation, or try to convince anybody of anything – your communication skills matter.

Second, never be above any task at hand. Every job is important in any organization.  Somebody has to do it or it doesn’t get done.

Third, learn by doing.  Whatever you don’t know, don’t be afraid to take on new challenges.  You need to be prepared to step out of your comfort zone if you want to grow.

Last, wherever you are, have a positive impact to the point where people recognize your absence. 

We miss having Isaac helping us out in the office in so many ways.  His contributions to our team and the work he did will be recognized in the coming months.  He had a residual impact.

Hey Isaac, if you’re reading this … the team at the Journal misses your sense of humor, positive energy, and daily contributions to whatever project landed on your desk.

Isaac, you will make great things happen, and we’ll be cheering you on!