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 seeks MSU students for paid jobs

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism has limited paid staff positions for graduate and undergraduate students at Michigan State University. The work includes

  • producing news stories for Great Lakes Echo, our award winning online regional environmental news service;
  • assisting faculty with research, including online and library research and proofreading of conference papers, journal articles and other material;
  • interviewing scientists about their environment-related research for podcasts and other public distribution;
  • helping “translate” research for lay audiences.

Other needs depend on the flow of projects, grants and Knight Center activities. Hours are flexible.
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Dawn of the wolf patrol: How I got the story

Holly Drankhan

Holly Drankhan hiking in the Swiss alps.


Editor’s note: Michigan State University student Holly Drankhan recently landed an interview  with a convicted arsonist and bombmaker for the Knight Center’s Great Lakes Echo.
Rod Coronado in 1992 burned down an MSU laboratory, destroying 32 years of animal research.
Subsequently the animal rights activist spent two years on the lam before serving a 57-month prison sentence. He told Drankhan that he now is a law-abiding advocate for Great Lakes wolves.
Drankhan, 22, of Clarkston, Michigan, took an environmental reporting class at the Knight Center before graduating with a degree in zoology last June. She continued to freelance for Great Lakes Echo through the summer and will enter the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine this fall.
The Knight Center asked her how she developed the story about the controversial activist. Here’s the scoop: Continue reading →

High schooler's prize-winning documentary features some Knight Center work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4KoVkAZhJk
An eighth grader from New York created an award-winning documentary about Rachel Carson with a bit of help from Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.
Nicole Chiang, a student entering Guilderland High School in Albany County this fall, became interested in the adverse effects of pesticides when she volunteered at the Farnsworth Middle School Pine Bush Butterfly Station. Last summer there weren’t any butterflies at the station, although there were plenty in previous years, she said.
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