You will find a column on the Opinion page of this week’s edition, written by a young woman whose name may not bee familiar to you.

Kim Wicker, who worked at The Times the past two months as a summer intern, wrote a Page 1B feature on a teenager who went from being overweight to becoming a body builder.

She called me when she arrived in the community. She has a journalism degree from Georgia Southern University.

When she called, I though it a little odd that she was willing to work for nothing. She had always wanted to work for a small newspaper. When she graduated, there were few newspaper jobs available.

She went to work in an office job, and that’s the type of work she has been doing the past 10 years.

Since she hadn’t worked for a newspaper, she had no stories to show me during her interview. We put her on as an intern at no pay when she started. We had her answering the phone, selling classified ads and doing research and updating Community Guide, which is going to the printer this Friday. Handling those tasks so well, I had to start paying her. She did some writing for The Times, including the feature story and column you’ll find on Page 6A of this edition.

She got the experience she was looking for, and now she has something to show a potential employer if she wants to stay in the newspaper business.

She came out to Arizona from Connecticut. Her column is on the differences she found in desert living versus living on the east coast. She moved to Fountain Hills with her boyfriend’s family, but that relationship took a downward turn, and she decided to move to the east coast, this time in the Carolinas or Georgia.

We at The Times wish her all the best in what should be a bright future for her.

Incidentally, another intern at The Times this summer, Ben Smart, finished in fourth place in the Hearst Awards National Broadcast Championship held May 29 through June 3 in San Francisco.

Upon his return, however, he dislocated his kneecap in an accident at the gym. The brace on his leg prevents him from driving. That has kept him from coming in and completing several stories he has been working on.

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The heat has been something else to say the least.

Four people died in the state from heat-related problems this past weekend. All were experienced hikers, so whatever you do, don’t hiking on these extremely hot days.

The one woman who was hiking in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve reportedly was a physical trainer, had proper clothing, plenty of water and was hiking with two doctors. She was 28 years old.

Other hikers were hiking on the Peralta Trail in the Superstition Mountains and two were in Tucson, which also set a record at 115.

The official high in Fountain Hills on Sunday was 118, making it one of the hottest days on record. My thermometer in the backyard showed 125 degrees at 3:30 p.m. that day.

There was little relief in the high country. Flagstaff and Prescott both set records on Sunday with 95 and 102, respectively.

Sedona was forecasted to have a high of 112 Monday.

The temperatures are supposed to go down a little but 110 and 111 are forecasted highs through next week.