Nicholson to intern at PCN this summer

For almost a year, Malta’s Brandon Nicholson has been writing columns for the Phillips County News and this summer, thanks to a grant from the Montana News Paper Association, he will be a paid intern as a columnist, reporter and photographer.

“The Montana Newspaper Foundation is very pleased to award Mark Hebert and the Phillips County News a 2016 internship grant,” said Jim Rickman, MNA Executive Director.

Nicolson is a 2013 graduate of Malta High School and the son of Chad and Michelle Nicholson. He is currently attending Montana State University in Bozeman.

“I think it is going to be great to be able to be home this summer and to work for the newspaper,” Nicholson recently said. “I don’t have anything special in mind as what I will do, but I will do what is asked of me and I am excited to learn the ropes at a newspaper I have grown up reading.”

Nicholson said he isn’t necessarily interested in pursuing a career as a journalist, but said he isn’t against the idea either.

“An opportunity to write a weekly column presented itself and I enjoy writing,” he said. “I am having fun with that and I was surprised on how many comments I got on my column when I came home last time. I don’t know if I want to be a journalist, but this summer internship is a great opportunity to learn something new.”

Nicolson will finish the spring semester at MSU in mid-May before heading home to Phillips County to start the three month internship. Aside from working, Nicholson said he is also looking forward to fishing, wake-boarding and hanging out with his family and friends. He said he hasn’t been able to spend a summer in Malta since graduating from high school in 2013.

“It will be nice to be home for a change,” he added.

The Internship Grant is awarded through the The Montana Newspaper Foundation, a 501 C3 organization, governed by a board of trustees, whose purpose is to raise, accumulate and disperse funds in support of annual scholarships, internships and newspaper industry related education.

Nicholson is one of three recipients of the 2016 Internship Grant with the other two grants going to the Laurel Outlook and the Big Timber Pioneer. There will be a 50/50 match to pay for the internship, the other half provided by PCN.