by Jay-E Shih, undergrad

J-School junior Sarah Kickler will head to Portland to work on The Oregonian's copy desk as a paid Dow Jones intern this summer. She also will receive $1,000 from the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund for tuition and living expenses for the next school year.

Thousands of students nationwide apply for the Dow Jones internships and scholarships each year. Approximately 100 are accepted. Six University of Oregon students have made the cut in the past four years, said journalism professor John Russial.

Kickler said she feels fortunate to be part of the program.

"This internship is one of the best possible opportunities for someone interested in copy editing," said Kickler, a student in the School's news-editorial sequence and editor in chief of the Oregon Daily Emerald.

Alumnus Randy Lemmerman, '95, received a Dow Jones copy-editing internship at Newsday on Long Island, N.Y., and a $500 scholarship the year before he graduated. Lemmerman worked as a copy editor at Newsday for about two years. He recently started a new job on the metro copy desk at The New York Times.

"I never would have gotten to where I am now if it hadn't been for both the Dow Jones program and support and advice of several talented people at the J-School," he said. "Professor Russial was especially helpful because of his background in copy editing, and he became my mentor during this process."

Russial and professor Wayne Wanta encourage students in their editing classes to apply for the internships. "This program is extremely helpful. It is the best thing a student who is interested in copy editing can do," said Russial.

Through the Dow Jones program, Tiffany Smith, '97, spent a summer working at the San Francisco Chronicle. She said she got the internship even though she waited until her senior year to choose the news-editorial sequence. She followed the Chronicle stint with a copy-editing internship at The Oregonian. Now, she is a copy editor at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va.

"What attracted me to the program was the fact that they just place you at a newspaper anywhere in the country, based on your paper size and type preferences," she said.

Lemmerman said the internship has had a powerful impact on his life.

"I really believe that without the Dow Jones experience, I might never have made it to the Times -- at least not this quickly in my career," he said. "It's not exaggeration to say that the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund changed my life."