Asia Atuah, a fourth-year journalism major and copy chief at The Lantern, interned with The Columbus Dispatch as trending topics and metro desk intern during the summer of 2020.
As copy chief, Atuah edits all stories that come through The Lantern’s desk, with topics ranging from arts and life, campus, sports and special topics. She gets the stories ready for publication and up to The Lantern’s standards. Atuah also oversees the news outlet’s videos, where she corrects captions, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.
“This position gives countless opportunities to become a better writer and editor, and while doing so, it helps me understand the writing process,” Atuah said.
Prior to her position as copy chief, Atuah took a class that allowed her to work in the newsroom two days a week and learn the basics of journalistic writing and editing.
In her internship at the Dispatch, Atuah pitched topics to editors and other reporters plus covered stories assigned to her by superiors. Her first story was about the Brood X cicadas. She had two hours to produce her final copy. She also covered local library summer programs, Columbus City Schools’ summer learning programs and new food at Lower.com Field, the newly built stadium for the Columbus Crew.
“Every day was different walking into the Dispatch,” Atuah said. “I had no idea the next topic I was going to cover, but I loved every moment of it.”
Atuah said Spencer Hunt, faculty advisor of The Lantern, has been her biggest confidence booster and advocate. He helped her find internships and influenced her understanding of what it means to “trust the process.”
“He gave me encouragement and propelled me forward,” Atuah said. “The only way to gain the experiences you don’t have yet is to try.”
Atuah is also the vice president of The National Association of Black Journalists and a copy editor for Black and Bold magazine. She is from Columbus and plans on joining the book publishing industry after graduation. Atuah wishes to become an editorial assistant and work her way up into other editor positions in the long-term future.
Article by Student Matthew Berger.
