The Northeast News is happy to welcome three college interns to our staff for their summer semester. Our interns are funded through the Mellon Foundation and the Missouri Press Association.

Collin Cornelison is a senior at UMKC pursuing a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a minor in film. He has lived in Northeast Kansas City periodically throughout his life. “I’m like a third generation Northeaster. So I have a lot of personal attachment to this area” said Cornelison. This has led him to become a summer intern at Northeast News. He previously wrote for UMKC’s student publication, RooNews. This summer, Collin would like to write about the history of Northeast, infrastructure, and political topics. Some fun facts about him are that he trains and teaches Muay Thai and also does it himself. His favorite color is green, and he is an uncle to two nephews. 

Savannah Jerman is a UMKC senior working on her bachelors in communications with a double emphasis in digital journalism and media and professional communications. Though originally from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, Jerman is excited to learn more about the neighborhood. Jerman wanted to work for Northeast News because she loves the nostalgia in print journalism and would love to eventually work as a journalist. “My ultimate dream job is to have my own talk show. I love talking to people and I think everyone has a story to tell,” said Jerman. For her contributions to the newspaper, Jerman wants to focus on writing lifestyle and culture stories as well as those based in history. Outside of journalism, Jerman loves rap music and is an aunt to three. 

Rachel Meng is a senior at UMKC studying communications with an emphasis in digital journalism and media. She is also pursuing two minors in environmental communications and Spanish. Meng has written for UMKC’s student publication, Roo News, for the past four semesters, and will be returning in the fall as one of the paper’s editors. She discovered Northeast News through an internship fair, and was attracted to the idea of writing for a print publication. She is interested in covering stories about immigration, environmentalism and queer history. Meng currently resides in Blue Springs, MO. In her free time, Meng enjoys crafting, watching movies and spending time outdoors. “The reason I love journalism so much is the storytelling aspect,’ said Meng. “I grew up doing theater, and I loved playing other people because you get to tell their story. To me, journalism is the written version of this.”

Look for these eager young journalists reporting news throughout Historic Northeast and say Hi!

Photo by Dorri Partain