What do the Golden Gate Bridge and journalism have in common? This year it’s the Associated Collegiate Press Midwinter National College Journalism Convention, to be held March 2-5 in San Francisco.
Journalists from around the nation will gather at the convention to learn from each other. Among them will be 12 students from Clark’s news publication, the Independent.
The ASCC-funded trip will allow students to see journalism in a nationwide context, discovering new aspects about it while having fun.
Ieva Braciulyte, a Running Start student and editor-in-chief for the Independent, is one of the journalists attending the conference. Excited to meet and talk with other young reporters across the U.S., Braciulyte values the opportunity of discussion about modern-day journalism.
“If you’re complaining about the state of journalism, you should go ahead and do something about it, because we are the next generation and we have the power to change it.”
Marvin Pena, a student from Venezuela, is also one of the editors traveling to San Francisco. Before coming to the U.S. and working for the Indy, Pena worked as a journalist in his home country. Pena now manages Mundo Clark, a print newspaper for Spanish-speaking students.
Hard sought-after diversity, in Pena’s mind, is “an opportunity to see different points of view, different ways of life.” Although Pena is one of the 12 students from the Indy participating in the conference, he is the only student to host a workshop there. Pena’s workshop will focus on ways to create media outlets for underserved audiences. He said the purpose will be to “encourage students to take action if they want to initiate or create a media outlet to cover those topics they believe are underserved.”
Dee Anne Finken, adviser for the Independent, said she hopes the event will “reignite excitement about journalism,” for the students.
Finken said the students at the Indy work vigorously, often without breaks. The trip to San Francisco will allow them to relax and have fun while learning about journalism. The upcoming conference will be an opportunity to share experiences with other student journalists, and to learn from each other, she said.
