Smithton High School year 10 student Dahlia Bryan spent a week at The Chronicle learning all about what it takes to publish a newspaper.

When I first came to the Chronicle for work experience, I was nervous and unsure on what to expect. 

When I arrived on my first day I was shown around the building and introduced to all the staff members, who were all very friendly and made me feel welcome and comfortable. 

After settling in and making myself familiar with the working space, I was told a bit about what I would be up to during the week. 

I began to get nervous when they told me what I was in for, but I was determined to give it all my best effort. 

My first task was to look through old Chronicles in order to get information on an article I would later write about the history of the Chronicle. 

It made me nervous to know that something that I wrote would be in the paper for anyone to read, but I personally believe I didn’t do that bad of a job. 

I also had to do an Interview on my own. It made me less nervous knowing I got to pick who I could interview but it was still an overwhelming thought. 

Once I had planned out the interview and got started, I realised I was stressing over nothing and it actually turned out to be a simple and fun experience. 

Something that I found really interesting was hearing and learning about the importance of each persons role and what goes into producing this weekly paper. 

The work I did was not nearly as stressful as theirs would be, but they were still able to create an extremely welcoming, happy and calm workplace that I felt very comfortable in. 

I wasn’t sure what I expected when I first arrived at the Chronicle, I assumed I would just do small jobs that nobody else really felt like doing, making coffees and just seeing how everything works. 

When I figured out all that was in store, I was glad because it really pushed me out of my comfort zone and it gave me a good taste of what working life is going to be like. 

I’m not that sure what I want to do as a future career, but working at the Chronicle this past week really opened my eyes on how many different career options there are. 

If you were to ask me what I saw myself doing in the future, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you, but my experience at the Chronicle was definately a positive one.