If I hadn’t taken Reporting Classes–specifically, Prof. Greggory Morris’, who made sure that students came out with published clips — I would never have been able to have had the internship and work experience that I’ve done.

After only publishing five clips, I earned myself an internship at the NY Daily News editorial board. Soon after, thanks to those who have seen and trusted my work (yes, those pesky clips!), I was hired for a monthly magazine as an associate editor and eventually moved up to become the editor-in-chief.

Today, as a professional who has opted to enroll in Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, I hear it still, again and again: There is nothing more valuable than published clips. Even in school, I am working as a freelance writer.

This should not even be a question for students and faculty to debate.

I know that undergraduate students have the capacity to take on more writing responsibilities in their reporting classes than the Film and Media Studies Department thinks they can shoulder. Plus, with the support of strong editors/professors, undergrads will soon be on their way to a career-enhancing internship and job.

And if the problem is that reporting classes requiring students to produce publishable clips will result in an increase in workload for instructors … I have one question–why have you decided to become educators? This is your chance to help develop the future of journalism. You have the chance to become mentors of future Maureen Dowds, A.J. Lieblings, Diane Sawyers, David Remnicks, and other brilliant journalists!

To the students (if there are any) who doubt the need for published work:
You do need them. This is a dog-eat-dog career, and if you’re unwilling to put in the effort now, when you have the ability to take advantage of educators who have an interest in your success, then you’ll likely find it more and more difficult to succeed in this field in the future. Besides, reporting work can be one of the most exhilarating experiences you will ever have.

To Prof. Morris: Good luck in your fight for the new journalists!

When I was passed over for the three-year position I was bitter at first and blamed it on the fact that the chosen intern was a “local boy,” and of course they’d choose him. Now, with hindsight, I realized that his experience of being editor and chief of his college’s newspaper far out-weighed my experience – which included writing for The Word, copy-editing for a New York magazine company, and completing a six-month intensive reporting internship at The Legislative Gazette in Albany, New York.

Having met a cross-section of people working in journalism and communications over the past few years in reporting for a small daily newspaper, being selected as a Chips Quinn Scholar (a newsroom diversity fellowship program hosted by The Freedom Forum in Washington D.C.), and single-handedly starting up a monthly tribal government newspaper – I can attest that having the opportunity to write, edit, and be part of a printed or online college newspaper is priceless to the foundation of anyone wanting to work in communications or journalism.

I am now the communications writer for the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, a position I beat out more than 100 people for, and is on a career-path I would never have been on without my student contributions to The Word.

If there is anything I could say to Hunter College’s Film and Media Department, it is that supporting a student newspaper and offering more advanced journalism classes not only show your students you believe in them – but it provides a strong foundation of skills for the voice of tomorrow.

Sincerely,
Vanessa Renee Casavant (B.A. in Media Studies ’07)