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 at writing personal introductions like this.

How will I differentiate myself from all the great summer reporters who came before me? What can I say about myself that will make me sound interesting cool and smart? Did I spell differentiate properly?

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

My favourite movie is The Fugitive my favourite TV show is Grey's Anatomy my favourite book is The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and my favourite place in the world is Haliburton! (OK I might have just been trying to butter you up a bit with that last one.)

I hail from Hamilton and have just completed my undergraduate degree in journalism from Ryerson University. I like writing features because they give me the chance to go in-depth on a subject and write about it in a creative way. I tend to focus on sports and science-related stories.

I chose to come to the Echo because I liked the idea of writing for a small-town newspaper where I can gain loads of experience and really build relationships and trust within the community. I also chose the Echo because what's better than Haliburton in the summer? Oh and they offered me a job which can be pretty rare these days.

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

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

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