Some of you may have noticed a few new bylines gracing our pages. The Demopolis Times has inherited three interns for the summer, and not only are they contributing, but they are also learning the trade in the process.

A couple of weeks ago, Chris Wasson and Natasha Emanuel joined our ranks, and Gracie Smith started in our office on Monday.

Chris is going to be a senior at Troy University. He is studying journalism and has thoughts of working in the field of sports information. In an office full of former sports journalists, he will have a lot of guidance.

Natasha is pursuing her master’s degree in English at the University of West Alabama and is employed in the Sumter County Schools system. While she is not pursuing a journalism-related job, working here gives her a chance to not only hone her writing abilities in a different genre but to also have her work published. She will also get the experience of working at a small-town newspaper.

Gracie will be a junior at Vanderbilt in the fall. If her last name sounds familiar to you — well, that’s because Smith is about the most common last name there is. But it’s no coincidence that she has the same last name as former Demopolis Times publisher Danny Smith, because she is his daughter.

All three interns are natives of Demopolis and seem to enjoy their work. It gives them the chance to be at home, but to see their hometown in a different light.

We here at The Demopolis Times are treating all three internships as classrooms. We want to guide them without pushing them, to teach them without telling them the answers. For us, it is a chance to bring new writing styles and young ideas to our biweekly product.

I thought that you should know about our three new faces if you see them out and about this summer. Please welcome them back home, and as always, feel free to offer up some story ideas. They enjoy writing, and welcome the opportunity to write for their hometown.