Ball State grad Sara Mahoney grabs internship with new Tribune high school project
Orlando Sentinel intern Sara Mahoney — a recent graduate of Ball State — has accepted a one-year residency at The Mash: described to me as “a high-school-produced spin-off of RedEye.”
My correspondent writes:
She’ll be one of two designers and gets to work in the Tribune Tower.
Sara is a Chicagoland native whose father also works in the Tower (though not as a journalist). So, it’s a kind of homecoming for her.
During the summer here Sara has shown her talent and improved it. She’s got a great attitude, is totally fun and loves tater tots.
Orlando Sentinel AME Bonita Burton writes about Sara:
I couldn’t be more proud of Sara for landing this exciting position. She is an amazing talent who mastered every challenge we threw her way. It became clear early on that she was going to be able to tackle even our most design intensive assignments. She consistently hit a high bar with every page.
The reason Sara is going to have such a successful career, though, is because she knows how to move between visual and non-visual team. Not only is the Visuals group sad to see her go, but Sara’s friends on the copy desk and newsgathering teams will miss her, too.
Keep an eye on Sara Mahoney, her rising star is one to watch!
A few samples of Sara’s work:
See more in her NewsPageDesigner gallery.
The Mash sounds like a really interesting project. I heard about this back in May at the SND quick course in Waterbury and blogged about it here.
The Mash will use software — called communityQ, developed by Bill Ostendorf’s Creative Circle company — that allows kids at Chicago area schools to post stories and photos to a common web site. The Tribune will use that content to pull together a weekly, 10,000-circulation paper to distribute in the schools.
The software allows kids to port over material from their MySpace and Facebook pages and to comment on other students’ work. At the end of the school year, students can pick-and-choose which content they like and publish that in their own yearbook supplement, which can be saved electronically or printed in hard or softcover.
The Chicago project will encompass 110 area high schools, Bill told me.
My correspondent writes:
Eventually, Sara will be joined in Chicago by her boyfriend Alex Bordens, a graphics intern at the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale. I imagine he’ll be looking for work.
Ha! I’m already familiar with Alex! I reviewed his portfolio at SND/Boston. In fact, I sometimes use his coach’s whistle timeline in my slide shows.
A few samples of his work:
See more in his NewsPageDesigner gallery.
August 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
This news about Sara is simply fantastic. She interned here at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane last summer and was a big hit. Didn’t know about her tater tot fetish, but she did go sea kayaking out here. She’s an adventurous sort.