Category Archives: Students

Journalism and non-journalism students at Michigan State University explore how to better report environmental issues to the public at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

Environmental journalism courses can help students meet the School of Journalism’s elective requirements. They can also be used as part of an environmental theme to complete the school’s concentration requirement by combining them with environment-related courses outside the journalism program. See your academic adviser or contact the Knight Center.

Non-journalism students interested in environmental issues are encouraged to contact instructors to discuss waiver of pre-requisites. Often a journalism environmental course may meet communication course requirements of other departments.

Undergraduates are also encouraged to join the student Environmental Journalism Association and write for Great Lakes Echo to gain resume-building experience and clips.

Undergraduate students are eligible for several awards and scholarships in environmental journalism.

They are encouraged to augment their study with environment classes and programs elsewhere at MSU such as the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment.

High school students visit Knight Center

Troy Athens High School students

Students from three Southeast Michigan high schools recently spent a day at the Knight Center, learning about environmental journalism and touring the School of Journalism, the Spartan Newsroom and the WKAR TV studios.

Kelly House, the environmental reporter at the nonprofit Bridge Michigan news service, spoke to the students and teachers at lunch.

Skyline High School and Huron High School in Ann Arbor and Troy Athens High School received Knight Center grants for their journalism and environmental science students and teachers to develop collaborative media projects.

Huron High School students

As part of the grant program, the Knight Center also arranged for former reporters Nancy Hanus and Ron Recinto to serve as professional mentors to the teams.

In “Why Native Plants,” the Troy Athens team explored the push and rationale to use native plantings at the school district’s new construction sites. Here’s the presentation and video about the project.

The Huron team looked at how students used wildlife tracking cameras to study biodiversity and Miller Creek, which runs into the Huron River. Its presentation is here.

Skyline High School students

“Skyline’s Salamanders & Wetlands” is an account of ongoing efforts to protect an endangered salamander on the high school’s grounds. The team’s presentation is here.

Learning how with Great Lakes Now

Leave a reply

By Donté Smith

Donté Smith

After spending most of my time in the Michigan State University journalism master’s program honing my photography skills, in the last year I focused on developing my writing and storytelling.

Joining the Great Lakes Now team allowed me to apply these skills in a new way while learning new techniques, like creating social media content, to stay prepared for the ever-changing world of journalism.

Experiences with Capital News Service and Great Lakes Echo gave me the confidence to pitch new story ideas and suggest fresh concepts for existing pitches.

My photography experience was appreciated, and I benefited from being around other photo- and video-focused people. They gave me new ideas for capturing images and suggested gear that would help me get the right shots for a story. While serving as both the reporter and the photographer for assignments was challenging, it helped me grow in both areas.

Joining the Great Lakes Now team was intimidating at first.

Being under the Detroit Public Television (PBS) umbrella, the organization was facing challenges related to federal funding reductions. I commend the Great Lakes Now team for providing me with engaging experiences while dealing with these challenges.

This experience taught me how much the world of journalism is constantly changing and that organizations like PBS will need to lean on their community-based models to face these challenges. Continue reading →

Interning at Michigan Public

Leave a reply

By Rachel Lewis

Rachel Lewis

Working at Michigan Public this summer as the environmental reporting intern was an eye-opening experience. I learned so much about environmental reporting and was introduced to the vast world of radio.

Growing up, my parents always had Michigan Public Radio playing in the car, but I never thought about how much work goes into a live 24/7 radio broadcast until I was sitting in the office, trying to figure out how to tell my 700-word story in under 30 seconds, or how to find the best 12-second soundbite from a 30-minute interview.

Michigan Public operates as a well-oiled machine, and every staff member I worked with made sure I fit in. Nobody hesitated to take time out of their busy days to answer my many questions. It didn’t take long for me to feel like a part of the team.

By my second day I had my first byline, and after a couple weeks of training I was expected to chase stories just like any seasoned reporter.

Reporting on the environment definitely comes with its ups and downs.

It was tough to report on highly scientific stories. Often these stories were on topics I had very little background knowledge of, but I tried to use this to my advantage. If it was something I was confused about, then it would definitely be something readers would be confused about too. This taught me to be extremely thorough with my research and interviews. Continue reading →

Diving headfirst at Bridge Michigan internship