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.
 
 

Knight Center students are national finalists for Iceland reporting trip

By Finn Hopkins

Recent MSU graduate Cassidy Hough. Hough is a finalist in the Storyfest 2023 contest for her Food Fix podcast episode “Perennial Grains are the future of sustainable agriculture”

Cameryn Cass graduates from MSU this spring. She is a finalist in the “Best Use of Science or Data” category of Science Fest 2023.

Two Michigan State University School of Journalism students recently were named finalists in a national environmental journalism contest.

Winners of each of five categories of Planet Forward’s Storyfest will be announced on April 20th. Each category winner has the opportunity to travel to Iceland with Lindblad Expeditions to report on the environment with an expert team aboard the National Geographic Resolution.

Recent MSU graduate Cassidy Hough is a finalist in the “Best Use of Science or Data” category of Planet Forward’s Storyfest 2023 contest.

Cameryn Cass, who graduates this spring, is a finalist in the same contest’s category for “Best Scalable Innovation.”

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Knight Center Documentary Grant competition for 2023

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism will award up to 3 grants of $3,500 each to support the making of environment-related documentaries (video, audio or other digital media) b MSU faculty-student teams.

Here are the essentials

Deadline for submission: March 14, 2023, at 5 p.m.
Decisions to be announced approximately March 20, 2023
Open to faculty and students from all departments at MSU.
Maximum award: $3,500 for 1 year.

These must be documentaries, not public service announcements or advocacy pieces.
The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism must be credited for underwriting the project.
The Knight Center will be entitled to use your documentary, including linking on our website and presentation in classes, workshops and other activities.
Allowable expenses include travel, essential equipment, supplies, pay for students and festival & competition entry fees. All expenditures must comply with MSU procedures and rules. Any equipment purchased remains the property of MSU. Grant funds must be expended with one year from the date of approval by MSU Contracts and Grants.

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Open call for 2023 proposals for high school journalism and environmental science collaborations

To encourage collaboration between high school journalism and environmental science classes, we invite teachers to submit proposals for innovative class projects in which journalism students will report about field research by environmental science students. Our principal goals are:

  • to help young prospective journalists better understand and explain to the public how science is done
  • to help environmental science students learn to use the media to explain their work to the public.
  • To promote environmental and science journalism.

The Knight Center intends to award 1-year grants of $2,000 to up to 3 high schools: $1,000 to the journalism program and $1,000 to the environmental science program for equipment, software or scholarships. In addition, the Knight Center will pair each school with a professional journalist to serve as a mentor to participating students and teachers.

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The Fifth Modern Wonder of Peru  

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism recently taught an online environmental journalism to a group of university students in Peru. This is one of the stories produced during that effort. The program was funded by the U.S. Embassy in Lima.

By Alvaro Benavente 

Six hours from Lima, three buses and four hours of walking — depending on your physical performance – is the fifth modern wonder of Peru, Marcahuasi.  

Located near the town of San Pedro de Casta in the province of Huarochirí, Lima, it is one of the highest plateaus in the world (4,100 meters above sea level), with 4 square kilometers of rock formations, spectacular abysses, lagoons, flora, fauna and a sky in which you can see the Milky Way.  

Without a doubt, it’s quite a visual show known among the hikers of Peru.  Continue reading