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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Do you remember when you were in kindergarden, when you teacher asked you to introduce yourself for the first time to everyone? Well, interning at the Jackson Free Press has been that experience times a hundred and I couldn’t have been more happier.

My experience has been awesome so far. I have only a few more weeks here but I am happy that I am an intern for the Jackson Free Press. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some pretty awesome people who are very enthusiastic about what they do in the city. I’ve gotten the chance to interview Daniel and Adam from F. Jones Corner, officials from the Jackson Boys and Girls Club and even a newscaster from Fox 40 news. These interviews have opened up my eyes to the people who are in my backyard. I enjoyed getting the time to get to know these people and why they have the drive to do what they do for the city. They are very passionate people in the field they work in. I hope that one day that I can be as passionate about my career as they are about theirs.

I have learned a valuable lesson after interviewing these awesome people. That lesson is that I should meet one new person every day and get to know them. This is my challenge for myself and everyone who reads this blog. So get out there and meet new people because in reality we are all kindergardeners waiting to introduce ourselves to a new person.

Meeting new people everyday,
Gerard D. Manogin

Previous Comments

Good goal, Gerard. 😉 Also, to the general readership, we just closed a blog post by the fearless Jackson Breland because it contained content paraphrased from another blog that has not been confirmed. Thus, the post will need to be factchecked and perhaps edited before going live.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.