Faces Profile : Ashley Zuelke

By Justin Woodburn

Ashley Zuelke was a reporter, not a copy editor when she applied for the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Summer Internship Program for Newspaper Copy Editing. After winning an internship and spending the summer at The Tacoma News Tribune, she knows she’s found her niche.

“Reporting is exciting but really stressful,” Zuelke said. “I’ve never been as relaxed as when I was copy editing.”

At first she worried she wouldn’t be fast enough or would make mistakes that would end up on late night talk shows, like Jay Leno’s “Headlines.” With the anxiety out of her system, the soft-spoken senior now knows she wants to be involved with the production side of journalism as opposed to reporting and writing.

A two-week “editing boot camp” in San Jose, Calif., preceded her internship. Her group, composed of interns from across the nation, created and designed their own newspaper while establishing important contacts.

The fun didn’t end when Zuelke started at the Tribune. She lived with a 27- year-old reporter from the paper, which, according to Zuelke, “made the internship.” She also made friends with other reporters and mentors who were never too busy to answer mundane questions about punctuation.

Working from 3:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. – or whenever the edition closed – Zuelke had the opportunity to edit everything but sports copy and feature stories. Some of her more notable work included editing two Sunday centerpieces.

“They really let me put in some non-traditional headlines,” Zuelke said. “I really enjoy putting something out that piques readers’ interest and keeps them turning the page.”

Zuelke is double majoring in print journalism and political science, with a focus in international relations and, if she can pull it off, a minor in French. She plans to go to graduate school for international studies with the hope of working for an international newspaper.