L&M Publications
Merrick Life • Bellmore Life • Freeport-Baldwin Leader • Wantagh-Seaford Citizen

Philippa Boyes
In April, there must have been a secret memo passed around school because, out of nowhere, it seemed as if every person knew exactly what they were going to do for the summer.
   
Seriously.
   
It was if they had all filled out a form selecting a job, camp, travel or internship one day when I was absent, because it was pretty much out of nowhere when conversations turned from the college-selection process to summer plans.
   
That’s when it hit me I had no idea what was going to keep me occupied this summer. I am by no means an idle person, sitting around all day would have left me bored.
   
But what to do?
   
Get a job, yeah, I know. You sound like my mom. But no one was hiring. Stores and restaurants didn’t want kids only around for the summer, or they wanted kids who have already completed their freshman year of college.
   
I was stumped. Then, one day, it struck me. One of my closest friends lives two doors down from the L&M Publications offices. I was on my way to her house when I saw the home of Merrick Life and Bellmore Life and realized it was the perfect place for me.
   
As editor-in-chief of my high school paper, top marks in my English classes and a fairly bold personality, I thought I could handle a summer interning for L & M Publications. Why not? It was worth a shot. I didn’t need to be paid, I just wanted the experience. I thought to myself: I’m going to be a communication major next year at Cornell University, trying to secure on spot on the college daily paper competing against dozens of kids who were also editors at their high school. I wanted experience at a real paper, and I wanted a leg up.
   
I decided at that moment to walk into the office. I spoke to Paul Laursen, the editor, and introduced myself as a high school senior, editor-in-chief of Calhoun’s Hoofbeats.
   
What was I expecting? Thank you for your interest, we’ll call you if an opportunity unveils itself. What did I get? The complete opposite reaction.
   
Paul seemed thrilled with my experience and my willingness to work. Within a couple of days I had talked with some of the other editors and worked out a schedule. I was working at L&M, meaning Merrick Life, Bellmore Life, the Wantagh-Seaford Citizen and the Freeport-Baldwin Leader.
   
It’s now been about five months I’ve been working at L&M publications and I can’t believe how much I’ve learned. I now understand how much work goes into creating a weekly paper, the intricate processes involved and the dedication it takes to write a story. The people here have been welcoming and knowledgeable about their fields from the get-go.
   
For the most part, I worked as part of the copyediting process, working in production. That was the real technical aspect of working on a paper. I got to see the detail that must be paid attention to. I also improved my craft as a writer with the stories I got to do, even making the front page a couple of times.        
   
One of the most exciting experiences I had working at L&M was when I helped to cover the Long Island Film Expo alongside my friend and fellow intern, Naomi Volk, where we spoke to actors, directors and producers.
   
I liked interning here these past couple of months because I truly think it’s not only shaped me as a writer, but more specifically a journalist. I now look at things from a journalist’s standpoint instead of a more generic writer’s view.
   
At 17 years old, I can not possibly predict what the future will hold for me. Yet I know without a doubt that the lessons I’ve learned at L& M will help me in everything I do. Commitment, a critical eye, ambition, compromise – these are the values I’ve learned that will always sustain me.

Naomi Volk
I can’t remember exactly the time it first occurred to me that I liked to write.  It seemed to be just completely ingrained in my personality. 
   
So when I got to Calhoun and settled down enough to truly analyze what I wanted to do with my time after school, it quickly became clear that where I belonged was the school paper.
   
After being a staff writer for all of 10th grade, I soon became co-editor-in-chief with my best friend for both my junior and senior years of high school.
   
The experience was indescribable.  Not only did the paper give me a voice and a place in the school community, but it was the place where I found one of my closest friends.
   
When I got to Brandeis University last fall, I knew that one extracurricular I would definitely be spending my time pursuing was the school paper. I was delighted to find out that there was no application process or a hierarchy at the paper – you just had to pick a section to work on and contribute as much as you could.
   
I joined the forum, or opinion, section. After three articles, I became an official staff writer. I completed this task by the end of my first semester. By halfway through my second semester, I was given my own column.
   
While looking for a rewarding experience for this summer, I looked far and wide to find things to apply to.  Then, over my February break, my mother rushed over and showed me an ad in Merrick Life for an internship with L&M Publications with a stipend by the New York Press Association (NYPA).
   
It was perfect. Not only was I being paid (my parents’ stipulation for my chosen summer activity), but I would be paid for something I truly loved to do (my own stipulation for whatever I was going to be devoting such a large chunk of my free time to).
   
I ran around, making sure to get all my articles and recommendations together, realizing that I only had a couple of days to get the application ready.
   
After a lot of waiting and an initial rejection on the part of the NYPA, I was shocked to see an e-mail from the organization while on vacation over my spring break. It said that the NYPA had decided to expand the program, beyond the dozen original participants. I was chosen to be one of the people able to take advantage of this renewed opportunity.
   
I was thrilled. No summer plans had panned out yet, and here was a fantastic opportunity just sitting in my lap.  My summer finally was looking up.
   
Starting work, I felt so comfortable and so welcomed. Everyone seemed like they really wanted to get to know me and respected my opinions.  Within my first couple weeks at the paper, I had a front page story at Bellmore Life.
   
Through this opportunity, I have not only had a chance to work alongside the friend I made while working on Calhoun’s paper, but I have also honed my journalistic skills, consistently interviewing, photographing and searching for a scoop.
   
I learned how to think of an idea for an article and then how to propose that idea to people who really matter. I learned how to be professional in phone interviews and how to use pagination software.
   
I learned the intricacies of the copyediting process.  I began to understand the style rules of a newspaper, designed to enhance flow.
   
I have covered local meetings, photographed festivals, covered the Long Island Film Festival, gotten caught up with the Aqua water company controversy and written about what Harry Potter means to me.
   
I have strengthened my voice and honed my writing skills. I feel so blessed for this opportunity. What I  took away from this was not to give up, and to understand that sometimes there are second chances.
   
Thank you to everyone who made my experience what it was.

Pete Paguaga
Growing up, I always had an interest in the newspaper. My dad would always bring home the Daily News, when he got home from work, and I would read it, especially on Sundays.
   
In high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do in college. I was playing ice hockey, baseball and volleyball, and always had an interest in sports, whether it was professional, collegiate or high school.
   
Going into my junior year at St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, I was supposed to take an easy class I can’t recall. But I got a call one morning at 7 a.m. from my guidance counselor.
   
While I was still practically asleep, the conversation went along the line of “Hey Pete (insert class that I was supposed to take has been canceled), I think you would be good in the journalism class,” said my guidance counselor. I responded with some slow, half-asleep reply that he took for a yes.
   
That school year I took the journalism class, loved it, joined the school paper my senior year and continued to get better and enjoy writing more and more.
   
When I was looking at colleges I came to the conclusion that I wanted to study journalism in college and become a journalist, specifically sports-related.
   
Not many schools have a journalism program, most have a communications major with a concentration in journalism. But I really wanted to study journalism specifically.
   
A family member is a journalist in Connecticut and told my dad to take me to see Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven during its open house.  At the open house, I went to the journalism table and met one of the professors who told me all about the program and what it had to offer.
   
I was sold right then and there, and that professor is now my advisor and someone I keep in contact with via e-mail over the summer. He always has his door open during the semester so I am able to pop in and say “hey.”
   
Fast forward over three years, and it was the spring semester of last year and I needed an internship for summer so I could graduate next May. My mom told me to call The Wantagh-Seaford Citizen to see if I could intern there. The Citizen has been delivered to my house ever since we moved the Seaford, so I was familiar with it.  I made a phone call and right away I was able to get the ball rolling on interning over the summer.
   
Everyone told me that being a unpaid intern would be no fun, considering all the work put in, with nothing in return. Well that’s wrong, in this case at least.
   
I have learned so much throughout this summer. They have never been afraid to send me to cover any assignment; in my first week Doug, an assistant editor, brought me to a bomb scare at a gas station because he thought it would be good experience.     I was freaking out, thinking to myself, “Well, it was a good run we had, Pete.” But he was right, it was good experience, a little frightening, but good, nonetheless.
   
The people who work here have been amazing, whether they work on getting the ads, are editors or reporters, or are the artist and production staff that put the paper together on the computer. They have all welcomed me and treated me not like an intern but someone who is part of the staff.
   
One instance was when one of my stories was challenged by a reader, and one of my editors backed me up.
   
This summer has been a memorable one that has helped mold me into a better journalist. I covered stories ranging from said bomb scare to a swing set dedication. I have covered it all and it has made me a more complete journalist.
   
I also learned how to change the batteries in the smoke detectors and I even learned how to change the florescent lightbulbs.
   
I would like to thank everyone at L&M Publications for welcoming me, helping me throughout this summer and for giving me the opportunity to work here over the summer.

Justin S. Gage
I wanted to spend my summer like any other 16-year-old would: work at camp, maybe stay home and hang around. But my college guidance counselor told me that I needed to do something more...professional. “Going to camp” just wouldn’t cut it, she said.
   
So I began to search around the Merrick-Bellmore area for something “professional” to do. The first idea that came to me was to inquire about interning at Merrick Life. I’d known about the newspaper for pretty much my whole life. I even think  I was featured in the “Kid Stuff” section once. Anyway, I wrote up a makeshift resume, sent it to Paul Laursen and waited for a little bit. He called me up, we set up an interview and the next thing I knew I was covering the reading of the Declaration of Independence in Merrick on the Fourth of July. I honestly had no idea what I was doing, so I took a few nice photos and went home.
   
The next day was my first “real” day on the job. When I first got here, I can tell you for certain that I wasn’t thrilled. I wasn’t getting paid and yet I still had to do things for other people...a concept still foreign in my mind. But my opinion quickly changed. Merrick Life is definitely an interesting place. About 20% of the staff is made up of interns. Heck, I even saw a bunch of police with automatic rifles enter a house with a robot. Believe me, I could go on for hours. But interesting isn’t a bad word.
   
The work that I’ve done here at Merrick/Bellmore Life has been surprisingly fulfilling. Within a week I was fitting right in, finding things to do and going places with a notepad and a camera.
   
I really never thought that an intern with no experience would have an impact on the day-to-day operations of a newspaper that has been churning along for 61 years. I’ve edited, I’ve typed, I’ve corrected, I’ve checked, I’ve written, I’ve researched, all right here.
   
There are many qualities that make Merrick Life the special paper that it is, but I’d certainly say that the best asset they have is the staff. I’ve never seen so many dedicated and diligent workers concentrated in one area.
   
I could also go on about the great things about Merrick Life for hours, but the point that I’m trying to get across is that this is a special newspaper. The chemistry in the air and the people that work here are things that other newspapers would kill for.
   
Believe me. And I can say with conviction that I‘ve been enriched at this job in many ways that I couldn’t have imagined possible.
   
I’ve learned so much about the workplace and business, things that will undoubtedly help me in the future. I don’t know what career path I will take in life, but Merrick Life definitely has made me a smarter and more well- equipped individual. Whenever and if I ever become a succesful adult, I know that I will have Merrick Life to thank for it.