Meet The State’s 2021 summer interns
The State is excited to introduce this year’s summer interns, who will help tell meaningful, community-driven stories from across the Midlands over the next seven weeks.
These two University of South Carolina students will apply their journalism educations and experience to The State, where they will gain a number of bylines and receive hands-on training and coaching from The State’s journalists.
Learn more about our interns below and be sure to catch their bylines this summer. If you have any news tips for our interns, please don’t hesitate to contact them.
Connor Hart, University of South Carolina
Connor Hart is 21-year-old rising senior at the University of South Carolina from Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. Hart is majoring in journalism, minoring in Spanish, and plans to graduate in May 2022. He will be primarily covering business stories in and around Columbia this summer. This is Hart’s first journalism internship, where he hopes he can apply the skills he’s learned as a journalism major to the work he will be doing this summer at The State.
“I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to work with such talented journalists like the ones here at The State,” Hart said. “I’m also excited to be staying in Columbia and getting to inform others about so many of the great things this city has to offer.”
Hart’s favorite project that he’s worked on so far at The State is collaborating with other State journalists to produce a Columbia “summer guide,” which will feature an array of local businesses and attractions. The project is expected to publish later this summer.
He has also recently reported on a company’s $20 million expansion in Richland County and 12 of the best places to get sushi in Columbia.
When he isn’t interning, Hart enjoys playing competitive volleyball. Hart has played the sport for almost 10 years, and is a member of the USC men’s club volleyball team and a practice player for the women’s varsity team. He also enjoys staying active by running, hiking with his dog Addie, reading and rooting for the Sixers.
If you have a news tip for Hart, you can reach him at chart@thestate.com. You can also find him on Twitter.
Nick Sullivan, University of South Carolina
Nick Sullivan is a rising senior at the University of South Carolina, where he majors in journalism and minors in geography. This summer, Sullivan will be working on investigative pieces with The State’s projects team.
Sullivan is originally from Cincinnati, “where chili is a lifestyle and the pro sports teams consistently disappoint,” he said.
Before The State, Sullivan has worked at a number of various outlets, including The Daily Gamecock as a writer and managing editor and the Cincinnati CityBeat as an editorial intern.
However, Sullivan’s proudest accomplishment is a passion project he started last year because of COVID-19. After Sullivan’s internship was canceled because of the pandemic, he gathered a small group of local students to create their own newspaper, The Strange Times, with the mission of bringing positive news to their community while continuing to advance their professional skills.
“I poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that little project, and it was so rewarding to see the community engage,” Sullivan said.
Recently, Sullivan published a story detailing the history of the electric chair, following the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision last week to halt the return of the electric chair until the state Department of Corrections could offer the option of an execution using a firing squad.
In his free time, Sullivan enjoys hiking and exploring new places, and is always looking for a new adventure. Do you have any recommendations for fun day trips around the region? Send him an email or connect with him on Twitter.
Overall, Sullivan is looking forward to his summer in South Carolina and the opportunity to advance his skills as a journalist at The State.
“Working with the projects team this summer, I’ll have the chance to interview dozens of people for a single article, dig through archives, request and analyze data and so much more,” Sullivan said. “It’s work unlike anything I’ve had the chance to do before, and I’m excited to spend the next seven weeks diving in.”
If you have a news tip for Sullivan, you can reach him at nsullivan@thestate.com.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
