Two months ago I joined the Mirror’s news team as an intern.

My goals were to learn as much as I could while contributing to the community. And I think I did that.

During my time here, I learned how to navigate the court systems and report stories based on court or police documents. This allowed me to cover many crime stories relevant to Federal Way citizens. Specifically, it has allowed me to follow the suspects in the July 18 robbery of Umpqua bank and let Federal Way residents know what progress police are making in apprehending and now charging the suspects.

I’ve also learned some of the more mundane administrative things, such as posting stories to our website, creating tweets or Facebook posts sharing our content and adding items to the community calendar — these are the things that go on behind the scenes, yet are crucial to the functioning of our website. It’s not glamorous, sure, but it is purposeful.

Through all my work, I feel like I have served the Federal Way community.

You have shared your stories with me; the story behind a recently published book, the secret to 70 years of marriage, the journey of a rare comic book up for public auction. These are some of the stories unique to Federal Way, and I am grateful I got to be a part of them, however briefly.

At a weekly community paper, some days were slow and others flew by. But each day gave me the opportunity to fine tune my writing or practice speed with breaking news, and I am a better journalist for it.

As my internship comes to an end and I prepare to graduate from college next week, it is time for me to find my current niche in the working world. I will take the lessons I have learned with me, and wherever I end up, I hope to find a community as open and welcoming as Federal Way.