Three New Faces Behind The Island News
By Ryan Schlehuber

From left: Leslie Rott, Jessica Delaney, and Karen Gould.

This year the Town Crier welcomes two bright and exuberant interns, Jessica Delaney of Grand Rapids and Leslie Rott of Huntington Woods. Working and guiding them through the summer is Karen Gould, a reporter from The St. Ignace News.

Miss Delaney, a junior at the University of Michigan, is majoring in English and Spanish. With her parents and her three brothers, she has visited Mackinac Island each year since she was 15. She remembers falling in love with the Island during a class field trip in the fifth grade.

Following graduation from college, she will attend graduate school and volunteer for a year of international service with the Jesuit Volunteer Program.

Miss Delaney said she is hoping to extract every bit of knowledge of community journalism the Town Crier internship provides. She said she loves to write and with her love of the Island and her enjoyment of the comforts of small town living, this internship seemed to fit well with her.

Miss Rott is a junior, majoring in sociology and English. She is also a reporter for the campus newspaper, The Michigan Daily . She intends to enroll in graduate school to study either social work or journalism and eventually settle in Chicago.

Miss Rott said she enjoys Mackinac Island and the Town Crier internship because motor vehicles are banned from the Island and she hates driving, and the internship offered her the opportunity to gain experience in journalism that exposes her to a wide range of community news.

Karen Gould, originally from the Grand Haven area, returned to The St. Ignace News after living in Chicago for a couple of years. She worked at the newspaper in 1999 and 2000 in the graphics and computer departments.

Mrs. Gould said she is looking forward to guiding and learning with the interns.

“They are two very talented women and I’m happy to be working with them,” she said. “We are having a great time learning the Island together.”

The two new reporters are quickly learning the uniqueness Mackinac Island has. For Miss Rott, the biggest challenge upon arrival was obtaining telephone service at her Harrisonville apartment.

“Setting up phone service on an island without addresses is very, very difficult,” she notes.

Miss Delaney’s biggest hurdle early on was to orient herself to the landmarks on Mackinac Island.

“I am the champion at getting lost,” said Miss Delaney. “I get lost in new places, places I’ve been, places I know really well. I get lost on campus, in the dorm; I even got lost in my own house once.”

The two interns have found the Island welcoming and friendly, despite being greeted with a snow storm shortly after their arrival on the Island in early May.

“I have enjoyed meeting some of the locals,” said Miss Rott. “Everyone seems really nice, friendly, and willing to lend a hand.”

“I’ve definitely gained a greater sense of responsibility and self-sufficiency,” said Miss Delaney. “I’ve also learned that once a goal is set, it can be achieved, whether that is making it up the hill on Cadotte Avenue or finding an area with cell phone coverage.”

Since 1959, the Mackinac Island Town Crier has offered its internship program to students from the University of Michigan. It is now in its 46th year and continues to be an avenue for a great hands-on educational experience in journalism, governmental functions, and community life.

Wesley H. Maurer, chairman of the Department of Journalism at the University of Michigan, purchased the Mackinac Island Town Crier in 1959 as a laboratory with which to train graduate students interested in owning their own newspapers.

He and his wife, Margaret, and their son and daughter-in-law, Wesley Jr. and Mary, purchased The St. Ignace News and the Les Cheneaux Weekly Wave in 1975 and continued to operate the Town Crier as a training ground for undergraduate students at the university.

Professor Maurer died in 1998 and Mrs. Maurer passed away in 2002.

The internship continues to be funded through the Harry and Helen Weber Fund at the University of Michigan, dedicated to supporting an international network of journalism internships established by Professor Maurer. The Department of Journalism was phased out at Michigan from 1979 to 1986, and students are now recruited for the Town Crier through the Department of Communication Studies. The program attracts bright, motivated students from all the University’s schools.