Two students who interned at the southern Colorado NPR station said they found meaning in their work this summer during an Aug. 21 event at Colorado Public Radio’s new headquarters in Denver. 

Students Havalin Haskell and Olivia Bagan, both minoring in journalism, spent their summer working in the newsroom of KRCC in Colorado Springs.  

The pair produced newscasts and stories individually — like about e-bikes on trails or Colorado’s largest wildlife overpass — but also had the opportunity to team up on longer features.

For one story, the two took a shuttle to the summit of Pikes Peak. For another, they tackled the importance of wearing life jackets at Lake Pueblo following a string of drownings. 

“We began to realize how our different skill sets really complemented each other,” Bagan said, “which allowed us to continue working together throughout the summer.”

Another double-bylined feature by the duo is set to air soon. 

“I’ll never forget my summer at KRCC,” Haskell said during her presentation. “I have just really fallen in love with journalism through this process.”

The internship helped her hone skills around clarity, writing concisely, and verifying information, she said. Interviewing strangers in the field helped her gain confidence and pushed her out of her comfort zone. She said she was excited to come to work each day with her coworkers in the Southern Colorado Public Media Center, which also houses the CC Journalism Institute. 

“I felt so empowered, so supported, so seen,” she said about the internship. “I think that’s something really rare.”

Before 2022, Colorado Public Radio, which oversees KRCC, didn’t have an internship program, said Amanda Anderson, the senior recruiter at CPR. The station formed a task force to evaluate how to better engage students and help broaden CPR’s reach, she said at the event.  

Since adding an internship program three years ago, Anderson said CPR has hosted 18 interns from multiple colleges and universities who have served in roles in the newsroom, in production, coordinating events, and more. 

Several of them have come from Colorado College. 

This summer was the fourth that KRCC partnered with the Colorado College Journalism Institute to provide two student interns. This time, both CC students appeared on CPR’s new daily morning podcast Colorado Today to talk about their work for KRCC. 

Bagan said she earned her first professional byline this summer at the station. 

“It was really exciting to be published,” she said. “Just to see that byline hit the page was very satisfying.” 

She said the internship taught her how to familiarize herself with the style of newscasts and writing for the ear. 

“I also got to learn a lot about Southern Colorado and the Springs in general, which was one of my goals for this internship,” she said. 

Something Haskell said she found compelling about a potential career in journalism is being able to meet different people and connect with a community. 

“I’m walking away feeling the spark that I was hoping I would get this summer,” she said during her presentation. “So, I’m super excited to just pursue journalism further, and it’s because of this internship that I feel empowered to do that. … I learned so much about the place I live in. I’ll be forever grateful for this experience.” 

You can find an archive of Haskell’s work for KRCC this summer here, and Bagan’s here.  

Colorado College owns KRCC’s broadcast license; in 2020, CPR entered into a partnership with KRCC. The Journalism Institute puts a heavy emphasis on the importance of local news. Students have had the opportunity to take the class “Radio Journalism” for roughly a decade.  

In 2023, former Colorado College President Dick Celeste gave a $200,000 donation to the CC Journalism Institute through the Gates Family Foundation to seed a fundraising campaign.

Celeste also gave $50,000 to KRCC to support internships.