While most students who went to high school with Jenny Kerrigan, KLN ‘18, chose to shadow a teacher within the school for their mandatory community study, go-getter Kerrigan decided to call up the Philadelphia Inquirer to see if she could shadow someone there to meet the requirement.
Fast forward to 2019, just one year after graduating from Temple, when Kerrigan became the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) first weekend photo editor. Since then, Kerrigan has also become photo editor for WSJ’s property report section and has done stints in the U.S., World, Business, Life & Arts and Greater New York sections.
Kerrigan’s interest in journalism originated in elementary school when she did a project on Nellie Bly, a trailblazer for undercover journalism, social impact reporting and women in the field. With the goal of the community study being to shadow someone in the field you wanted to pursue, Kerrigan found herself in the Philadelphia Inquirer’s suburban office getting her first taste of journalism as a high school senior.
“She was somebody that it was just really clear that she was going to be successful at whatever she chose to do,” Program Manager for the journalism capstone course Philadelphia Neighborhoods Chris Malo said. While doing her capstone, Kerrigan covered North Philadelphia as part of her coursework, and Malo noted that the people trusted her copy and photos to tell their story.
While Kerrigan shadowed at the Philadelphia Inquirer, upon finding out that Kerrigan would be attending Temple University, her peers and mentors encouraged her to get involved with the Temple News as soon as she could when she got to campus—and she did. By the second semester of her freshman year, Kerrigan had used her interest in journalism and photography to become the assistant photo editor.
“She was a freshman with a staff position, which was quite rare for us,” wrote friend and Temple News colleague of Kerrigan’s EJ Smith. “I think she got everyone’s attention with how quickly she progressed.”
Since meeting at the Temple News in 2015, Smith and Kerrigan have kept in touch. Smith sometimes sends Kerrigan photos he takes before he posts them on Instagram, and Kerrigan even took Smith and his wife’s engagement photos.
In addition to her work with the Temple News, Kerrigan had several internships while in college. From an NPR photo editing internship to an internship at the photo desk at CNN digital, Kerrigan explored all aspects of journalism.
Her work at CNN turned into her freelancing for them after she graduated before she started at WSJ. During this time, Kerrigan covered breaking news and picked up the occasional odd or overnight shift. In addition to freelancing at CNN, she also freelanced for Getty Images’ entertainment desk and attended events like the Met Gala to work on live photo editing for the company, editing photos in a newsroom in real time during major events.
“It was a very fun and busy year living full-time in New York,” Kerrigan said.
Kerrigan loves the collaborative nature of the work at WSJ and wants to continue the path she is on. “It’s so exciting being in the room with all these experts when news is happening,” she said.
No matter where her career takes her, Malo noted that any publication would be better off with Kerrigan as a part of their team.