KATIE ADAMS

I’ve always had an interest in writing and journalism is a career I’ve had in mind for some time, so I wanted to experience it first hand. I have thoroughly enjoyed my week here at the Star and I have learnt quite a few useful things about journalism, what it entails and the importance of deadlines etc.

I discovered that when working in a newspaper, every week can bring something different and that they can vary from being quite quiet to being pretty busy, especially if there is a big local news story that involves perhaps the police.

I also discovered how much thought goes into producing a paper when it comes to space for advertising and also how journalism has changed from newspapers getting the stories first to a lot of it being easily available online for free.

I got the opportunity to type up a few articles for the Past Times section as well as completing a Q&A for this weeks paper. I enjoyed doing these as I got to see how to use the Adobe programme to type certain articles up and how different articles need different shapes.

The staff of the Ulster Star have been very welcoming and I have enjoyed working alongside them towards this weeks paper.

My friend Kirsty Brown was doing work experience in a place called ‘Happiness’ in Wellington Park for events management. During the week she attended a meeting to organise a conference which will take place in 2013 and she did a lot of admin work such as filing documents and editing powerpoint presentations.

Research was also a main task for her and she searched for logos and client contact details online in order to get into contact with people that the business works with.

She said, “I have really enjoyed my week here at Happiness and it has gave me a good insight into the career that I hope to pursue.”

My friends Amy McKee and Sophie Horner both spent the week at the Ramada Plaza hotel in Belfast for business management. During the week they were doing housekeeping as well as looking at the events and sales of the hotel.

They liked the week they spent at the Ramada and they told me: “We have had a great week at the Ramada and it has been interesting to see all the different things that go on in a hotel.”