Getting more experience as a journalist?

I just finished my first year of college, and I just moved from Hawaii to a small town in North Dakota. I have not decided on a major in college yet, but I think that I will be going into something concerning writing, since English has always been my strong suit.

So my question is whether I should get in contact with the local newspaper and ask if I could in some way start writing for the paper. I'm 18 years old, and the only experience I have writing for a paper would be this past year in college when I was part of the student newspaper. I have most interest in writing about entertainment (movies, music, TV, etc.) and if anything I think maybe a movie review column may be something worth having in a local newspaper. The town I am in is very small, and according to their website they accept opinion pieces from locals, but I don't know if I should try to get in touch with the paper and see if there may be an opportunity for me. I am not sure I want to major in Journalism, but I figure a job like this may be good experience regardless. Should I try to pursue something like this or do papers not let amateur 18-year-olds write for them?