Catching up with…Verna Thompson, CQS class of 1999

By Dwayne Steward
Special to chipsquinn.org

Posted: May 25, 2007

Verna Thompson views her eight years at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., where she has worked since she graduated from college, as an elongated stepping stone.

“After college I was an intern (at The News Journal) and I kind of got used to Delaware so I stayed,” Thompson said. “It’s close to everything (New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.) and there are some really good people here.

Verna Thompson Age: 30 School: Norfolk State University, Virginia Hometown: New York, N.Y. CQ internship: Summer 1999 at The News Journal (Wilmington, Del.) Current job: Web producer, The News Journal

“But I don’t see myself staying in journalism,” she added.

Thompson, a Web producer at the paper, eventually hopes to follow her dreams to the West Coast and the world of advertising or Web design.

Even early on, she said, her goal “wasn’t always journalism.”

A New York City native, Thompson was a fine-arts major at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan.

“I thought I’d become a fashion designer,” she said, “but I couldn’t find a college that I could afford that had a good design school. My brother suggested graphic design, so I went to Norfolk State University (in Virginia), where my major was journalism. I minored in advertising.”

By the time she graduated, Thompson was not only was writing for but also running her college newspaper, The Spartan Echo.

“One of my professors kind of forced me into (writing for the campus paper). I found that I loved the people and by my sophomore year I was the news section editor,” she said.

From Chips Quinn to a permanent job

During her senior year in 1999, the adviser to The Spartan Echo recommended she apply to the Chips Quinn Scholars program. She landed an internship at The News Journal as a graphics artist and page designer.

“It was coming to the end of the summer internship and I didn’t have a job,” Thompson recalled. “I started to freak out.”

She applied to a few places and, after not receiving many replies, she panicked, she said. Little did she know she had no reason to be in a frenzy over possible unemployment: Her work was impressing the bigwigs at The News Journal.

Her editor pulled her aside one day and told her the paper wanted to hire her full time. Thompson was elated and accepted the job.

At the same time, she was thinking about her career path.

“I didn’t see a future in page design except if I became a manager and that’s not what I wanted to do,” she said. “I basically taught myself most of the Web stuff but soon realized that what I knew on my own wasn’t good enough to get a good amount of freelance work, so I went back to school.”

She has continued to keep her journalism skills fresh by attending The Art Institute of Philadelphia to earn a degree in new media and Web design.

At The News Journal, she transferred from page design to the fast-paced world of newspaper Web producing.

The paper has featured her blog, “Verna Vision” on its Web site for well over two years. In it, Thompson provides an informal, urbanized view of what goes on around Delaware, with pictures and commentary.

She also has started doing some freelance work.

Looking ahead

At 30, Thompson is still dreaming big, which sets her apart from many of her peers, she said.

Verna Thompson and Dwayne Steward.

“I’ve always wanted to see what life is like on the West Coast. I’m planning to move to California in the next couple of years,” she said.

She envisions working in advertising, designing Web ads or commercials, or focusing on producing online products. “Eventually I’d like to take my freelancing and focus it more and become an entrepreneur,” she said

In any case, she said, “Once I leave here, I’m done with newspapers. I don’t see what else I could learn or gain.”

On the non-career front, she wants to have children but doesn’t have a strong desire to marry.

“Marriage isn’t really on my ‘to do’ list; if it happens it happens,” she said. “But I definitely want kids.”

For the moment, Thompson isn’t terribly eager for change but will be ready for it when it comes. Like everyone else, she’s simply trying to get into her element, she said.

“I like to think I’m career oriented,” Thompson said. “People say I work too hard, but I’m just trying to find that balance right now between my career and having a social life outside of it.”

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