Co-oping in the editorial department of the Bracebridge Examiner with editor Kristan Farlie and reporters Jacqueline Lawrence, Matt Driscoll, Allyson Snelling, Boris Swidersky and Darren Lum was an experience in my life that helped me learn and improve on a daily basis, increasing my interest in wanting to go to school for journalism.

While assisting and working with the crew, I had the opportunity to write a weekly column, submitting an entry to Kristan by Tuesday every week. I wrote on topics about events and news around the school so that I could inform the community of what was happening at the Bracebridge high school, BMLSS.

Another really entertaining occurrence I enjoyed quite a bit was going to observe the court appearances in Bracebridge with reporter Boris Swidersky. It was really neat to see the different cases that were out there, being dealt with, and how the court procedures operated.

One other task I was taught while at the Examiner was how to upload all of the news onto the paper’s website, www.bracebridgeexaminer.com. This usually became another thing that I could help out with every Wednesday when the paper came out, in order for the public to retrieve the news by using the web.

Being given various press releases and jobs to be done was exciting and new. I’m a person that likes variety and change. Whereas writing is indeed sitting in the same chair, same computer every day, it is never the same story — you have to get out with the public and find your story.

The Bracebridge Examiner was an excellent, beneficial experience and I am glad that I was able to have this opportunity, within the field of journalism, because it most certainly gave me a stronger idea toward my interest zone for the job.

I would like to say a strong thank-you to everyone at the Bracebridge Examiner, from the receptionists at the front desk such as Randi MacGillivray and Donna Ansley for greeting me every time I would walk in, to all of the reporters who helped me and assigned me various tasks; for instance, being educated on photography and viewing how they perform their job properly and professionally.

And also last but not least, to Kristan Farlie whom I worked with every day, discussing columns, asking questions, getting handed press releases, and for overall being very nice to me in learning new things.

Everyone at the Examiner is extremely kind and I enjoyed co-oping with and getting to know each and every one of them very much. Thank you again for including me, Melissa Smith, with you at the Bracebridge Examiner for semester one, in my co-operative education experience of the 2007-2008 high school year.