Garet Jaros, who spent the summer at The Daily Astorian, and Janet Christ from The Oregonian enjoy the party honoring both the generosity of the contributing donors and the continuing success of the interns who participated in the program.

The 1999 class of Charles R. Snowden interns, the Snowden family and editors from participating newspapers around the Pacific Northwest gathered on September 17, 1999, to celebrate the internship’s second successful summer. The party, held at Julie Snowden’s home in Newberg honored both the generosity of the contributing donors and the continuing success of the interns who participated in the program.

Set up in 1998 to honor the late Charles R. Snowden, a former editor with the Oregon Journal and the Oregonian, the program is designed to launch young journalists from Oregon into the professional world by providing paid internship opportunities.

In 1998, the endowment provided funds for five internships, which were awarded to University of Oregon students exclusively. This year, 10 internships were funded, including one for Erin Brock, a University of Portland student who worked at The Dalles Daily Chronicle, and one for Katie Pesznecker, a student at Oregon State who worked at the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Active collaboration between participating newspaper partners, the SOJC and the Snowden interns is integral to the philosophy of the program. During the internship,

Internship Coordinator Pam Cytrynbaum is in regular contact with both the interns and their editors. This year’s group of interns spent their 10 weeks at a variety of participating papers all over the Northwest, including The (Bend) Bulletin, the Corvallis Gazette-Times, The Daily Astorian, the East Oregonian, the (McMinnville) News-Register, The (Roseburg) News-Review, the Springfield News and the (Salem) Statesman-Journal. As the resources available to the program continue to grow, more internships will be added and the list of involved newspapers will expand.

Virginia, Richard and Julie Snowden hosted a party at their home in Newberg to celebrate the accomplishments of the second class of Snowden interns.

Charlie Snowden, who died in 1997, exhibited a passion for journalism and a commitment to ethical reporting—qualities that that the selection committee looks for in potential interns. Applications for next summer’s class of interns were due in November, and Cytrynbaum found that “yet again, the applicant pool for the Snowden Internship program is full of terrific candidates.” She added, “It is quite an impressive group with a diversity of experiences. The Snowden Committee is going to have to make some very difficult choices. I am thrilled that the message is getting out across the University and across the state that we’ve got an amazing opportunity for students.”

Participants in the program are equally positive about their experience with the program. Garret Jaros, a U O student who spent his internship at The Daily Astorian, said, “It was great—they treated me like family and I got to write front-page stories.”

Holly Scholz found her experience at the Springfield News to be equally rewarding. “I was treated like one of the regular staff members,” Scholz said. “I was involved in story meetings, wrote stories for the newspaper, designed pages and took photos. I was sad when the summer came to an end, but I was grateful to the Snowden family for giving me the chance to experience the real world of newspaper work.”