By Robert Mackenzie

Published May 23 2017

It's a beautiful day in Haliburton and I'm inside my Echo office banging my head against a desk because I'm not good atwriting personal introductions like this.

How will I differentiate myself from all the great summerreporters who came before me? What can I say about myself that willmake me sound interesting cool and smart? Did I spell differentiateproperly?

Here are four get-to-know-me facts:

My favourite movie is The Fugitive my favourite TV showis Grey's Anatomy my favourite book is TheApprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and my favourite place in theworld is Haliburton! (OK I might have just been trying to butter youup a bit with that last one.)

I hail from Hamilton and have just completed my undergraduatedegree in journalism from Ryerson University. I like writing featuresbecause they give me the chance to go in-depth on a subject and writeabout it in a creative way. I tend to focus on sports andscience-related stories.

I chose to come to the Echo because I liked the idea ofwriting for a small-town newspaper where I can gain loads ofexperience and really build relationships and trust within thecommunity. I also chose the Echo because what's better thanHaliburton in the summer? Oh and they offered me a job which can bepretty rare these days.

I've been here less than a week so I don't have much to say toeveryone yet except for hello I'm thrilled to be here for the summerand your town is beautiful. The air here is much nicer than inHamilton.

Everyone I've talked to so far has been kind and friendly. I lovefriendly people! I hope I get to meet all 17000 friendly faces inthe county over the summer.

In September I'll likely be back in Hamilton with no jobprospects and no back-to-school plans for the first time since mypre-kindergarten years. Yet my mind is free of worries or concernsbecause I'm spending the next few months in your marvellous town andI couldn't be happier about it. Thanks for having me!