By Gabe Themar
The Osprey Observer delivers news to Southeast Hillsborough County, including Riverview, Apollo Beach, Valrico, Winthrop, Lithia and Brandon. Every summer, the Observer selects several high school and college students to work as interns, giving them the responsibility and experience of finding stories, writing articles and creating short videos for social media. This year’s intern team includes Michaela Galligan, Alisa Gershman, Emma Snider, David Taylor and Gabe Themar.
Michaela Galligan
Galligan is a rising senior at Florida State University (FSU) and is pursuing a dual degree in political science and editing, writing and media studies and minors in communication and sociology.
Despite being from Pinellas County, Galligan found the Osprey Observer via a Google search and decided to apply.
“My favorite part of the internship has been being able to connect with the community and write some feel-good stories.” said Galligan. “My favorite has been the piece I covered on Schuyler Arakawa, who was named Ms. Wheelchair Florida after a traumatic injury almost a decade ago. Her story is so inspirational, and it was amazing talking with her and her mom, Meridith, about her journey and mission.”
Galligan plans on continuing in journalism in the future, and she currently writes and edits for two publications at FSU. She hopes to pursue a master’s degree in journalism in Washington, D.C., where she can cover politics and national policy.
Alisa Gershman
Gershman is a rising senior at Newsome High School in FishHawk. She was introduced to the Observer by her English teacher in freshman year, who knew about her interest in journalism and how she planned on joining her school’s newspaper, so he thought that she would be a good fit for the internship.
“My favorite part of the internship is reaching out to people and hearing their stories firsthand,” said Gershman. “Learning about events and businesses around my community is always cool.”
Gershman plans on going to college for biotechnology and eventually going into research; however, she also plans on continuing writing and publishing her work in the future.
Emma Snider
Snider is also a rising senior at Florida State University and has been a longtime reader of the Osprey Observer, so she was excited when she heard about the internship program it offered.
“My favorite article I wrote during my internship was the piece about the Rays Baseball Foundation,” said Snider. “It was really interesting to learn about how one of my favorite teams is giving back to the community.”
Snider plans on finishing her bachelor’s degree at FSU and attending graduate school for journalism. Snider is very passionate about journalism, and in her free time she also writes poetry.
David Taylor
Taylor is currently a junior at Florida Gulf Coast University and is a member of the graduating class of 2027. He found out about the Osprey Observer through his mom, who goes to the gym with its editor-in-chief, Marie Gilmore. This summer, he was the singular multimedia intern, specializing in filming, editing and creating insightful videos to be uploaded onto the Observer’s social media pages.
“I loved every part of the internship,” said Taylor, “but if I had to pick one, I’d say all the in-person stories, and number one would be the video on geocaching I filmed with Gabe Themar.”
“I don’t plan on continuing journalism specifically in the future, because I’d like to end up in the digital media space,” said Taylor when asked about his career goals. “But, if that ends up with me working for a media that also does journalism, then I wouldn’t mind in the slightest.”
Gabe Themar
Themar is a rising sophomore at Hillsdale College in Michigan. He grew up reading the Observer’s annual ‘Touchdown Preview’ and coverage of high school sports and found out about the summer program while searching for internship opportunities in his area.
“My favorite story I covered was Scenario Faryoo, who became a multi-time Billboard and gold-certified producer before graduating high school,” said Themar. “I also liked getting to work with Taylor over the course of the summer, especially in the geocaching video we did.”
Themar is pursuing a sports management major and journalism minor and is considering a career in either field. Outside the classroom, Themar writes for his campus newspaper, is part of the student radio team and plays football at Hillsdale.
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