If experience is the greatest teacher, then Stacy Anderson has studied with the best.

Anderson, an Atlanta native, has had many experiences as a journalist, all in hopes of having a multifaceted career in the field.

“I eventually want to become an editor of a newspaper, have my own publishing company, and produce an entertainment news program geared towards young people,” Anderson said.

The first opportunity to flex her writing skills came through Headz Up! magazine, a nonprofit publication distributed throughout middle and high schools in the Atlanta metro area. Headz Up! took Anderson on as an entertainment editor when she was 14. She called the experience the foundation to her print journalism career.

“I learned how to investigate, how to research, basically the whole journalism process in general,” said the 20-year-old Howard University junior.

Many opportunities have opened up since then. While in high school, she served as a staff writer on Chamblee High School’s Blue & Gold student newspaper in her junior year and graduated to features editor her senior year. She also interned at CNN, doing guest bookings, and at CNN International as an editorial assistant.

In spring 2005, she completed an internship at BET.com and this summer she will intern at the Washington Examiner.

And during the 2005-06 school year she will serve as business and technology editor for The Hilltop, the campus newspaper.

“With journalism, you learn something new every day,” Anderson said. “You have to talk to people everyday, investigate something every day – you’ll never have the same task in journalism.”

JESSICA YOUNG