Three summer interns are now writing feature stories and taking photos for The Fountain Hills Times, it was announced by publisher Alan Cruikshank.

“They are an enterprising group of young people,” Cruikshank said. “They are all eager to build their portfolios with byline stories and photographs that will appear in The Times this summer.”

Kim Wicker is a recent graduate of Georgia Southern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and Communications.

She has her first feature story printed in this week’s edition. It appears on Page 1B. She was a staff writer on the student newspaper at the university.

Wicker will be writing stories for The Times and is doing updating on the Community Guide.

Ben Smart graduated in May from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health and will be attending Duke University in August to pursue his

Master’s degree in Biomedical Science.

During his undergraduate years at UNC-Chapel Hill, he worked as a reporter, producer and anchor of the daily news program on the university’s television station.

He is in San Francisco next week to compete in the 2016 Hearst Awards National Broadcast Championship against four other finalists for the national title.

Smart also interned at CNN in Atlanta where he wrote 18 original articles on medical and health topics.

“He contacted me two weeks earlier, asking to learn the community newspaper business during his summer break,” Cruikshank said. “He said he was spending the summer with his mother. He sent me a resume, and I was quite impressed with his list of awards and scholarships.”

The third intern is a familiar face around The Times’ office.

Sage Kirkendoll is a summer intern in photography. She is currently majoring in business law at Arizona State University.

She is a 2015 graduate of Fountain Hills High School and just completed her freshman year at ASU.