Nearing the end..

Tomorrow is the last day of Work Experience, and to be honest I am not looking forward to it all being over. I have really enjoyed getting to try out different forms of employment, and I have loved having the opportunity to meet lots of amazing, kind, and interesting people. I am really going to miss the world of work, and getting up every Wednesday to head off into the working world. I will really miss the people that I have had the chance to work with...

St. Vincent De Paul has got it all :)

This is my third placement of TY work experience, and I have to say, it is absolutely wonderful after just one day.

I really wanted to secure my last place with S.V.P for the simple reason that it meant I could get some experience in the retail industry, whilst also getting to give back to my local community. S.V.P Celbridge is a totally non-profit shop, where all of those who work there are working there on a voluntary basis. The shop itself serves the entire community, and sells clothes, accessories, shoes, bric-a-brac, books, CDs and DVDs, and even toys and some home wares. I had always been someone who loved to pop in and see if I could find some really nice things for a really amazing low price, and by doing this, I was not only getting myself a great deal, but I was also helping people. I personally have bought I'd say 7 items of clothing from there and they are all in great condition as the shop doesn't put things out that are not fit for sale.

I was actually part of the process of deciding whether the items donated were fit for sale, and what price they should be sold at. I got to rotate the stock, and tag the clothing as well as putting them on the racks to be displayed. I sorted through all of the donated items which was really interesting actually. The people there are the most friendly, helpful, sweet people I have ever come across. They treat you like one of the S.V.P family, like I had been working with them for years, and I really appreciated that as I was a little nervous not knowing anyone at first.

They are all such hard working people, who dedicate their time to working, voluntarily, to run this shop that not only provides great finds at low prices, but that is a charity that helps thousands of people each year. All the customers are regulars by now, and everyone seems to know everyone and I love that whole atmosphere. If you never shop in charity shops for whatever reason, please give them a chance, they are doing such great things for our community, helping so many people, and you can find some really fantastic things for incredible prices too.

Please support your own local St. Vincent De Paul, it is really appreciated, and the people behind these shops are just simply wonderful people.

Whoopsies...

Oh my gosh...shame on me. Shame on me. Tut tut Lauren.

Yes yes...I do realize that I have not blogged on this blog for an inexcusable amount of time. Dave five was the last day I blogged?? Oh my...
Well, it has been five more work days since then, and my time at the Liffey Champion Newspaper has come to an end. I really was very sad to be leaving, as I found that I was becoming the most confident nearing the end of my time there. While there I learned new skills, as well as improving on the skills of writing I already had. I met some amazing people, and got a closer look into the world of newspaper writing, editing and journalism.
My last five days (which I shamefully did not document) were just as brilliant as I was hoping, getting to write interesting stories, have them published, and getting to call up people and find out information for myself.

I have loved my time at the Liffey Champion, and I will never forget the wonderful experience I had.

Fifth Day :)

Today was a really fantastic day at my work placement, I had loads of work and research to do so I was kept busy all day right up until leaving time. I was initially sent out to get a copy of the newspapers main competitor "The Leinster Leader". I had no idea where the shop was but luckily I ran into another TY doing her work experience at the paper and we found the shop together.

I read through the paper to see if there were any of Liffey Champions leads after being printed by them. Also to find out if there were any of their stories that we, as a paper, needed to cover. After finding a few that needed coverage, I got researching and writing them up. Along with this I had other stories being sent in to my folder on the server, so along with having to do research for my own stories, I had to do up some of the press releases into stories.

I made a good few phone calls on this day, which is unusual because I don't often get to use the phone. I rang up a new SVP Shop in Maynooth, I rang up the CSO (Central Statistics Office), along with one of the papers photographers to find out about an event he had been attending at a local primary school. My final phone call was actually to my own school, requesting any photographs from the mini-company competition be sent to me at the paper for publication.

Unfortunately the school never got back to me, and I had spent so long on the article all about our schools success in terms of the competition, I was worried that it wouldn't be put forward for print due to the lack of images. However, I did get printed in today's (7th Feb) edition of the paper, along with four other articles. I would probably say that this has been my favourite day so far, simply because I overcame my anxieties about having to do phone research, and also was alot more comfortable in what I was doing, and I no longer felt like the TY in for work experience I felt like one of the news team. 

Finally Settling In :)

On my fourth day at the Liffey Champion Newspaper, I was finally beginning to fully settle in. This was definitely my best and busiest day of my work experience so far.
Including myself there were three people on work experience, one girl from college and one from another school who was in T.Y. she was lovely and it was nice knowing there was someone there in the same situation as me.
The day started as it was to continue, with loads of press and media releases. I had to read through them and  write them up into stories, which I really really love :)
I was doing this pretty much for the whole day, along with some research and also a phone call or two. I did give myself a few little breaks to get a cup of tea despite being super busy...
Final duties of the day were to proofread some stories that were to be printed and then hand them into the editor with any corrections underlined. They were then sent on upstairs to be corrected for printing.
I got a few things published again this week and I super pleased with that :)

Love this placement.

Second and third day :)

My second and third day of my work experience in The Liffey Champion Newspaper, I have decided to write about together as many of the duties I had are pretty much the same each week. (And I also forgot to write about week two earlier...apologies)
So, on both the second and third day, I got in some press releases, and some media releases, and wrote them up into stories.
I also got to make a few phone calls which was a good experience, ringing up people to find out what you need to know is a useful skill.
I am continuing to get more comfortable in my placement there, and I also continuing to  have my writing published so I'm really glad I secured the placement when I did :)

Liffey Champion :D

My second work experience placement is at the Liffey Champion Newspaper in Leixlip. I was so so glad of securing this placement as journalism is something I have a huge interest in. When initially turned down, I persisted, and got the place!! :D I was over the moon.
My first day was really very nerve wrecking, as I going to be way out of my comfort zone. However, when I got there and I met my supervisor, I was instantly put at ease, she was lovely. I was given press releases, and even Facebook Statuses and I had to make them into stories or articles.
As Wednesdays are the day that the paper goes to press, it is a super busy day so I have plenty of things to write to keep me busy.
The experience was fantastic and I also had my own articles published, so overall it was fantastic !! :D