BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – UVM’s Center for Community News continues to expand while teaching students to be journalists.
The program began nearly three years ago to encourage students to become journalists. The students get to go into communities and report on actual issues and then help local papers by publishing content that’s been edited by professional editors.
Studnets get real life experience covering community-centered issues. Plus they say there’s no satisfaction like the first time they see their own byline.
“There’s a sense of accomplishment that students get when they see that the thing that they’ve written or produced is actually seen by real people, and they get real comments. There’s a sense of it that’s like, authentic and genuine, that you can’t repeat in just a classroom experience,” said Richard Watts, Center for Community News Director.
The program has grown nationwide to more than 130 schools now helping to fill news deserts that do not have trust local sources of media.
The Center for Community News recently got a donation of 7 million dollars to further expand their program.