From the Intern: It's good to be here for the summer

My name is Edward Schulstrom, and I am the new summer intern at the Pine Knot.

I have always been a member of the Carlton County community since I was born on my parents' farm in 2003. As a farm kid, milking cows, bailing hay and the Carlton County Fair were usually the highlights of the summer. At the county fair, my family would arrive at the crack of dawn to milk our cows, stay the entire day and only leave after milking again in the evening. When my parents took over Finke’s Berry Farm (now renamed Spectrum Farm Strawberries), berry picking became the dominant event of the summer.

Living on a farm was also a part of my school curriculum. My five siblings and I were all homeschooled, which meant that every farm activity had a part in our education. That was mostly a supplement to our education though. During the winter, my mom would put her experience as a licensed teacher to use and give us a more formal education.

In 2020, I started my education at University of Minnesota Duluth. I quickly became interested in Journalism, drawn in by the short and succinct writing style at first. As I wrote more stories though, I found that interviewing people was the real reward: listening to the passion in a student’s voice as he talked about his beloved professor's imminent retirement, or as a student explained how she organized a candlelight vigil during an October snowstorm. My place in journalism is to share the stories that people are passionate about.

I really hit the jackpot with this internship though. All journalism students at UMD are required to intern at a news outlet, and I wasn’t really interested in working at an online newspaper. The Pine Knot is the most relevant to where I grew up, and I have always been impressed by their writing. If my professors' encouragement wasn’t enough, the number of awards that the Pine Knot gets certainly proves their staff know enough to teach me the ropes of professional journalism.

My goal is mostly to write about events and people important to the community this summer. If you know anyone who has contributed or achieved a lot in the community or an upcoming event that should be in the paper, please feel free to reach out to me, either by email at [email protected] or by phone at 218-350-1361. I look forward to hearing your stories!