Harrison Khan recently joined the Isle of Wight County Press for some work experience.
The St Catherine's School pupil wants to be a writer and covered some stories for us while he was here.
He also wrote some words about his experience, which have also been translated into a communication tool call 'Widgit', which some of the school's non-verbal pupils use to communicate.
Scroll down to see a Widgit version of Harrison's column...
Harrison writes...
Given my dream of becoming an author, work experience at the Isle of Wight County Press has been hugely beneficial.
I have been able to use my passion for creative writing in a way I have never done before, which has led to published articles with my credit where applicable.
During my time at the County Press on work experience, I learned a lot about how the newspaper works and how the newspaper is structured.
I learnt about the different sections and what they contain, as well as word limits on certain articles.
This also applied to the articles I wrote about the St Catherine’s Gala, as they had to be shrunk to fit, after they were sent in.
Though there are no formal entry requirements, I do know that the road to becoming an author is by no means easy.
I have to be able to come up with ideas that will sell.
However because I know, through the County Press, my articles are being read by a huge base of people, it has given me a lot more confidence which will help me accomplish my goal.
I really enjoy learning English at St Catherine’s College, because it gives me new skills to use in my article writing.
At the moment I am preparing for my English exams, which means reading a lot of articles in past papers and then writing in the written paper.
I am confident my learning at St Catherine’s, combined with the County Press work, should help me pass my exam in my final year here.
Work experience at the County Press has given me a lot of things to think about throughout my four-week placement.
Finding article ideas and drafting them on paper proved fun, as I could use my writing skills in such a way to make an article within a word limit.
Since they were published, they have gone down better than I could have ever hoped for.
Most of all, I’ve just enjoyed being here, as this placement was really a miracle find.
I couldn’t be more thankful for these weeks here. Thank you, County Press.
House Rules
We do not moderate comments, but we expect readers to adhere to certain rules in the interests of open and accountable debate.