Above The Fold
Cover Story
Take Ten
By Becky Fleenor
Ten years, 116 teenagers, 75 girls, 41 boys. Since 1997, student journalists from across the United States have attended Youth Editorial Alliance conferences from Spokane, Wash., to St. Louis as part of the NAA Foundation Teen Fellowship program.
With the program’s 10th anniversary approaching, the NAA Foundation wanted to find out what the former teen fellows are doing now. A survey was created to assess their education, job aspirations and successes, and to ascertain how their experiences as young journalists and teen fellows may have influenced their school and career choices as well as their media habits.
I was asked to coordinate the research and track down as many of the former teen fellows as possible. What was I thinking? How was I to find 116 people – many who are now adults, some who are now married, many who went on to higher education, some who still attend high school, and a few who seem to have dropped right off the map?
I did what any savvy, hip person does. I contacted their youth editors, I searched the Internet and I started a MySpace page (see www.myspace.com/teenfellow). This baby boomer actually created a page on the social networking site so popular with the young generation in hopes of unearthing some of these long-lost folks. Yes, they made me put my age on the page, and yes, I did find some people through this digital craziness.
With all of these search methods, some of the former teen fellows were easy to locate. Others have yet to be found. Roughly 60 percent of those I tracked down returned the surveys.
What I learned is that the conferences made a huge impact on the lives of these young people, and that they will never forget their experiences as teen fellows.
THE MEMORIES
Cassie Means (teen fellow class of 1997, FlipSide, The Charleston [W.Va.] Gazette) graduated from Marshall University with a degree in journalism. She is now a third-year student at the West Virginia University College of Law.
“I was very excited about attending the conference [at NAA Foundation headquarters] with my two editors, Marina Hendricks and Kerri Barnhart,” she says. “I was very eager to meet other teens who shared my interest in newspaper writing. My high school didn’t have a student newspaper, so I was definitely looking forward to meeting some fellow news junkies.
“I got my bachelor’s degree in journalism and the conference definitely helped push me in that direction,” Means adds. “Now, I am getting ready to graduate from law school, but I still have a strong interest in writing.”
Bryan Behrenshausen (2000, Voices, Reading [Pa.] Eagle) is a graduate student at the University of Maine. He teaches courses in public speaking and interpersonal communication while he pursues a master’s degree in communication. He has vivid memories of his teen fellow experience.
“At the conference I attended [in Raleigh, N.C.], I remember giving my first-ever professional presentation,” he says. “Never had I felt so on top of the world. We teens divided ourselves into small groups in order to tackle larger issues we knew the editors wanted to hear about.
“As journalism in the digital age is a research love of mine, I opted to speak a bit about launching Web sites as companions to printed teen sections, what these companions should accomplish, what they could offer that their printed parents couldn’t, etc. Apparently, I was the only ‘digi-head’ in the bunch, because no one decided to accompany me!”
Behrenshausen says he “will never forget sitting up late at night in a hotel room, hand-coding a basic HTML-based Web site on the fly, feeling that rush – so familiar to journalists – of stress mixed with excitement, and thinking: ‘If this is what professional journalism will be like, bring it on!’
“As I close my eyes now, I can still see my view from the front of the conference room that day: tables full of editors from all over the country are … nodding, writing, biting their lower lips. I remember feeling honored and flattered that so many people – many veterans – would take the time to hear this kid, and take him so seriously,” Behrenshausen concludes.
Hannah Miller (2004, Page One, Tribune Chronicle, Warren, Ohio) was the 2006 Ohio student journalist of the year and a finalist in the 2006 national student journalist competition. She recalls that she “had some vague ideas about what to expect [at the Fort Lauderdale conference], since several Page One staff members had been fellows in the past.
“They said that we would put together an ideal teen section, that parts of the preparation would be stressful, that the information presented coupled with the people we would meet would be inspiring, and that the entire experience would be terrific. All of this was true,” she says.
Miller now attends Denison University, where she writes for the school newspaper even though she doesn’t think she wants to be a professional journalist. “However, I feel like I've had too many great experiences and opportunities in this field to give it up, so I want to stick with it on some level to see what becomes of all this.”
The 2005 teen fellow class from the Nashville conference bonded quickly and developed a novel way of keeping in touch. “Almost all of us talk on an online blog site that we created after the conference,” says Jessica Ogelvie (teenessean, The Tennessean, Nashville). “We also e-mail now and then, and we are hoping for a reunion next year.”
THE PROFESSIONALS
Mark Cina (1997, Page One) is a staff writer for US Weekly. His duties include interviewing and editing “The Record” page. Asked if the teen fellow experience influenced his decision to pursue journalism professionally, he replies, “No, I’ve always wanted to go into journalism. But the fellowship was great for networking and meeting other professionals.”
Chris Rodkey (1999, Our Generation, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.) graduated from the University of Montana in 2005 with a degree in journalism with a print emphasis. He is now a full-time reporter with the Spokesman-Review and works out of the valley bureau covering business, a small city and social services.
Jake Stump (2000, Pulse, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.) is a graduate student at West Virginia University and a reporter for the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail. He covers general assignments and politics.
THE STUDENTS
Amanda Hickey (2003, Listen Up!, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.) is a junior at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, majoring in mass communications with a concentration in print journalism. She also is interning for her former youth editor, Timmi Toler. “So far, I’ve only helped create forms, take notes during meetings and edit the [Listen Up!] page,” Hickey says. “But the season is just starting and soon I’ll be editing the staff’s work along with the page.”
Kellie Bramlet (2004, The Voice, The State Journal-Register, Springfield, Ill.) is a sophomore at Marquette University studying journalism. She also interned for her former youth program. Her duties included writing articles, running and planning staff meetings, some editing and organizing.
“I have wanted to study journalism since I was in elementary school,” says Angela Haupt (2004, Voices), “but my YEA fellowship did cement my goals.” She studies journalism at Penn State University.
Erin James (2002, The Student Sun, The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pa.) also attends Penn State. “I am the editor of The Daily Collegian, the independent student newspaper that covers Penn State. We are a 20,000-circulation daily newspaper with a staff membership of nearly 200. Being the editor-in-chief is the most significant honor I could achieve.”
Holly Fletcher (2001, teenessean) attends Northeastern University. She interned at The Boston Globe during the summer of 2006, but is not pursuing a journalism degree. Instead, she is majoring in international affairs and minoring in political science.
“One semester into college, I determined that I didn’t want to spend four years learning how to write,” Fletcher says. “Instead, I study what I find interesting. It made more sense, for me, to study what I’d eventually like to write about rather than study writing. If journalism doesn’t work out, that’s fine – I’ll be more than happy working in the realm of international policy.”
Mary Kate Brennan (2004, Teen Scene, Home News Tribune, East Brunswick, N.J.) is a sophomore at College of the Holy Cross. She interned at The Star-Ledger in Newark during the summer of 2005, but is not studying journalism in college.
“Holy Cross does not have a journalism program,” Brennan says. “Instead, I am studying English and taking general liberal arts classes. However, I further my interests in journalism by writing for our weekly paper, The Crusader, and plan on being the news editor next semester.”
Nikki Roberti (2006, The Verge, Florida Today, Melbourne, Fla.) is a senior at Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School. In her fifth year as an intern for The Verge, she pitches story ideas, writes articles, interviews, finds sources for other journalists, sets up photo shoots and even takes the occasional photograph. She plans on seeking an internship with a magazine when she goes to college next year.
THE MEDIA HABITS
In addition to questions about jobs and education, the former teen fellows were asked about their media habits. How important is reading the daily newspaper? Do they read the newspaper in print, online or both? Where do they get most of their local information?
One hundred percent of the respondents read the print version of the newspaper at least twice a week, but most are daily readers. Sixty-six percent also read online versions of newspapers. Sites they visit include The New York Times and USA Today, as well as the sites of their hometown newspapers.
For local information, the fellows go to newspapers first, then the Internet and radio. One respondent cites her mother as a source for local information, while another credits roadside advertisements as a way of learning about local events.
THE EDITORS
How did these outstanding teens earn fellowships in the first place? Each year, the NAA Foundation chooses teen fellows from a pool of applicants nominated by their youth editors. Several current and former youth editors outline how they have selected students to participate in this process.
“I generally tried to nominate a teen who would not only benefit personally, but benefit the group with his or her insights,” says Barbara Allen, editor of Satellite at the Tulsa World.
“In leading a youth section, you learn pretty quickly who’s a good group participant – someone who listens and reflects, and knows when it’s his or her turn to talk. That was just as important to me as writing skill or awards. I also liked to look for minority students, because part of Satellite’s mission is to work toward increasing the number of minority students involved in journalism.”
Teen Scene Editor Bill Canacci of the Home News Tribune says he looks for “for the best, most dedicated writers, the ones who have shown me the most during the year.”
Wendy Zang, former editor of the Reading Eagle’s Voices, says she relied partially on experience.
“I chose a student who was one of our interns,” recalls Zang, now assistant managing editor of special sections for McClatchy/Tribune Information Services. “I looked for someone who had a strong interest in journalism as a career, and whom I felt confident in the ability to behave appropriately at the conference.”
Let’s face it. Professional journalists who have a youth presence in their newspapers are passionate about why they do what they do. Here’s what some current and former youth editors have to say about YEA conferences and the teen fellows.
“Working with the kids [in St. Louis] was really an amazing experience for me,” says Zang, who ran the fellowship program at the 2006 conference. “I still can’t believe how well they worked together, and most importantly, how supportive they were of each other’s ideas.”
“Youth editors are a different breed,” says Erin Orr, features editor at The State Journal-Register and former youth editor at The Modesto Bee and the Antelope Valley Press, both in California. “It’s not uncommon for their peers in the newsroom to wonder what possesses them to want to work with teens, which is why the annual conference and the YEA e-forum are so essential.
“The support, brainstorming, troubleshooting, idea-sharing – all help keep youth editors juiced about their mission. And that mission is to in turn energize and guide budding journalists and young readers. The conference is where it all comes together; the symbiotic energy of gathering teen fellows and youth editors in one place is palpable and inspiring,” Orr adds.
Kelsea Gurski, editor of The Voice at The State Journal-Register, says “the teen presence is the most useful part of the conference. Hearing directly from them about how I can improve my section and what they want out of youth sections in general makes me a better editor in so many ways. I get so much from talking to them every year. Plus, seeing them with so much enthusiasm always reminds me why I love my job.
“These conferences have become a huge resource for me and a welcome source of rejuvenation,” Gurski continues. “There’s no other place you can gather with other professionals who know your plight and pride as a youth editor. We face so many unique ups and downs, and we need support in an industry that doesn't yet fully get the importance of what we are trying to do.”
THE LAST WORD
Chris Thomas (2006, Listen Up!), sums up the fellowship experience with this comment:
“Going into the conference, I had high expectations. I knew I was going to meet new people and learn more about my craft while finding out new ways to report. My favorite part of the conference was just getting to know people. There’s nothing quite like bonding with your peers and making new friends. Everyone I met there was down to earth and just pleasant to be around.
“While we weren’t working, we just kind of hung out and got to know each other. Though I was the baby of the group and one of only two guys, I felt like I was among family from day one. Everything was better than I could hope for. I enjoyed every moment of the conference, and I just wish I could go back and do it all over again.”
Becky Fleenor, a former youth editor and NIE coordinator, is the school and marketing coordinator for Love in a Big World in the Nashville area. She can be reached at bfleenor1@comcast.net.
