CHESAPEAKE — Taylor Burnette has been majoring in journalism and news and information for the past year at Ohio University in Athens and, though she was sent home early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she is continuing to hone her journalism skills this summer.

Burnette, 19, is interning at The Ironton Tribune through the end of July and, since starting two weeks ago, has worked on a number of stories, three of which will be in the next issue of Tri-State Living magazine, published by the newspaper.

The daughter of Tammy and David Burnette, she graduated second in her class in Chesapeake in 2019 and says she hopes to go into magazine feature writing.

Her ideal career is working for an outlet like National Geographic.

“I like community and culture stuff, and arts and business” she said of her favorite subjects to write about.

Burnette is the business reporter for The Post, the student newspaper at OU, where she serves as social media director.

Burnette’s internship comes at an unusual time, with many events in the area canceled and businesses closed due to the pandemic. She has been doing her stories remotely.

“It’s certainly interesting,” she said. “I really miss the camaraderie both in the workplace and out on the job.”

But she said she is interested in hearing the stories of how people are dealing with the pandemic. Her first piece for The Ironton Tribune was a collection of interviews of students from Lawrence County who detailed their experience with college and university closures.

She is a member of Blackburn Hill Church of Christ in Athens, as well as First Baptist Church of Proctorville at home in Lawrence County. She is active in community theater, including Zadokite Wood Productions in Huntington, West Virginia.