Indiana Wesleyan University journalism students are reaching out to public school journalism clubs and classes to help further develop interest in local journalism.
IWU students began this outreach plan by first partnering with Justice Thurgood Marshall Intermediate School’s Newspaper Club, and then began working toward developing a partnership with Oak Hill Junior High School. The ultimate goal is to develop relationships between IWU journalism students and every county school in the area, said Amy Smelser, IWU professor and advisor of the Sojourn and GrantCOnnected.net.
“The idea is to engage our students with the community. So by having them go to the younger kids’ newspaper club meetings and just offer instruction and encouragement and a little ‘how to’ … is a good thing,” Smelser said. “And if our college students can teach it, then that means they’re actually learning it too.”
Smelser said while the IWU students are helping younger students structure and restructure sentences, they’re also getting to know the younger students and the culture they come from. Through this, IWU journalism students get a peek into another side of the community they might not get to experience otherwise.
IWU senior Mallory Tucker has been involved in developing a relationship with Justice Intermediate School and said though she is teaching journalism skills, the younger students are also able to teach her.
“Developing their journalism skills is, of course, important and the purpose of a Newspaper Club; however, I am learning to remember that they are young people first with diverse home lives who sometimes need to be heard,” Tucker said. “Part of being a good journalist is being comfortable in your own skin and knowing who you are, so taking time to listen to kids when they need to be heard is crucial to their development as individuals and as journalists.”
Kari Persinger, library coordinator of Justice Intermediate School and head of the Newspaper Club, said the purpose of their club is to learn writing skills, computer skills, communication skills and the ability to articulate good questions.
In addition to this, students are learning how to be a team and find enjoyment in writing.
Smelser hopes through working on these skills, IWU students are able to give a voice to younger students in the community. She said as of now, the students covered in the news are either athletes or academic standouts, while other students have stories to tell as well.
“That’s not to say that good things aren’t happening and that stories aren’t covered. But just your everyday student who just observes and can write, they deserve to be able to tell those stories too,” Smelser said. “And if we can partner with them, give them an avenue for that, offer instruction and eventually maybe grow a program, that’s great!”
Persinger said she also hopes her 5th and 6th grade students will also get a glimpse of college life and want it for themselves.
“This might encourage them to someday attend a university such as IWU. I would love to do field trips and joint fun activities,” Persinger said.
As for how this helps IWU students, Tucker explained that engaging in the community is an essential part of becoming and being a journalist, and this can begin by becoming involved with younger students in the community.
“At some point, journalism students have to branch out of their comfort zones to interact with the community if they are ever going to be successful in the journalism industry. Working with kids in the Newspaper Club is beneficial because interacting with kids in the community is a great way to become comfortable with communicating well as a journalist with adults in your community.”
