 |
Volume 17, no. 3, Spring/Summer 2002 | |||||
 Snowden Interns spark new seminar
"Students going into newsrooms often have lots of questions during the first three or four weeks, and they don't have anyone to ask," says Campbell. Campbell and Pfeiffer decided that the interns would get more out of their experiences—and give more to their newspapers—if they were able to ask those questions ahead of time. Thus the idea for the Snowden Internship Seminar was born. For the first time this year, Snowden interns spent a day getting to know each other and preparing for the internship before heading off to their individual assignments. Snowden interns also subscribed to the newspapers where they would be working to learn more about the communities where they would be living and working. During the seminar, students received guidance from Pfeiffer on how to be successful in their internships. They watched videos on how to conduct interviews and find good stories and discussed the dangerous assumptions that editors and interns often make about each other. SOJC senior Marty Toohey, who worked as a Snowden intern last summer, talked about the challenges of finding a social life in a new town. Once they leave for their internships, students will use Blackboard, a web-based classroom program that—although they will be scattered throughout the state—will allow them to hold discussions as a group about the challenges they face on the job. "We're trying to create a better support network," says Campbell. "People can share story ideas—a good enterprise story in Astoria could be used in Springfield, too." As part of the new program, interns will address a weekly discussion question. During one week, Professor Tom Bivins will lead a discussion about ethics, and students will have the chance to talk about the real issues that crop up in their newsrooms. Campbell says that if this year's experiment proves successful, they'll continue to develop the workshop for future interns. The Snowden internship honors the life of Charles Snowden, a longtime editor at the Oregon Journal and The Oregonian. The program partners the SOJC with newspapers throughout the state to provide paid internships to journalism students. "It's competitive, and it's a terrific opportunity. It has that wonderful element of getting students into newsrooms," says Campbell, who is finishing her first year heading the program. The 2002 Charles Snowden Interns are:
 FRONT PAGEflash@jcomm.uoregon.edu |
| |||||
