By SUE BURZYNSKI BULLARD
Three UNL students joined journalism students from 12 top U.S. universities last summer to produce in-depth news coverage on key issues facing America.
Munn
Clark
Lowe
The students — Courtnee Lowe, Ford Clark and Astrid Munn — used innovative digital techniques to tell stories across multiple platforms.
They were part of a program called News21 or News for the 21st Century, which is a national fellowship sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Astrid Munn
Munn, who graduated in December, went to the University of California, Berkeley, where she helped produce a project called “Intersections, geographic and cultural crossroads in the Bay Area.” It looks at change in four California communities.
She called her News21 experience “amazing” and said she learned a lot about teamwork.
“While NewsNetNebraska gave me some sense of what it is like to work on a story as a team, News21 definitely took me out of my comfort zone in terms of teamwork, and I liked that,” Munn said.
“Learning how to collaborate on a story in a constructive, non-competitive way was new to me.”
Munn, who plans to attend law school, believes the collaborative skills she learned in News21 will help her in real life, too.
Courtnee Lowe
Lowe, a broadcast major who graduated in May 2009, went to Syracuse University for News21. Her group produced “The Young and the Wireless,” looking at how technology is affecting America’s youth.
Ford Clark
Clark, a graduate student, was part of a group based at Northwestern University. Those students produced a report called, “Young Urban Adults and the New America.” It focused on issues facing young adults in a diverse nation.
“The News21 program is a wonderful opportunity for our students to work with 90 of the best journalism students in the country on in-depth reporting projects of critical national significance,” said Michelle Hassler, assistant to the dean and the J school coordinator for the program. “And as they develop innovative ways to present this work on the Web, they are providing important models for the news industry to follow.”
Last summer was UNL’s first year in the program. Next summer, three more CoJMC students will head to campuses around the country to work on News21 projects.
The students, who receive a $7,500 stipend and all expenses paid, are: Matt Buxton and Aaron James, both undergraduates, and Charlie Litton, a graduate student. A team of J school faculty chose the students from a pool of applicants based on their reporting and new media skills.
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