By NATE POHLEN
Andy Boyle
Growing up, Andy Boyle noticed his dad reading the Omaha World-Herald in the living room every day.
For a young, aspiring journalist from South Sioux City, writing for the state’s largest paper seemed like a dream job — and a long shot.
Now, thanks to the generosity of the World-Herald, four J school juniors or seniors every semester have a chance to see their names in print while they work for the paper. The students are part of a special program at UNL called The Real World.
“It’s an honor,” said Boyle, a senior news-editorial major who was one of the program’s first four fellows in the spring ’09 semester. “I always thought the Sunday World-Herald was the coolest invention in the world. It’s just cool to work for that thing that my dad was always reading.”
John Gottschalk, a retired publisher of The Omaha World-Herald, created the program. Under Gottschalk’s guidance, the World-Herald established a $1 million endowment at the University of Nebraska Foundation for the program to build a relationship with one of the top journalism schools in the country and to discover potential employees.
John Gottschalk
The program goes beyond a typical internship. Up to 20 students take The Real World class each semester, with the tuition for the one-hour class paid for from the endowment. After interviewing with World-Herald editors, four are selected to be fellows, interning for the paper’s Lincoln bureau the following semester. The students chosen for the fellowship are paid $100 a week and receive a $2,500 stipend at the end of the semester. The newspaper’s endowment also pays the tuition for three hours of credit the four students receive for the semester.
The goal of the one-hour Real World class is to help prepare students for the workplace. Each week, different World-Herald reporters or editors come to the class to talk about subjects ranging from covering tragedies to being a team player in the office.
The course is a popular one among students. Associate Professor Mary Kay Quinlan, who supervises the class, said the spring 2010 semester class is full.
Those who continue on as reporting fellows generally write at least one article a week, each with a hard-news angle.
“It’s very challenging,” said Leslie Reed, the Omaha World-Herald bureau chief in Lincoln and the students’ primary editor. “Usually interns get assigned to do a lot of spot news and news conferences. We’re asking them to do enterprise stories and find a fresh angle.”
The program is unique in the way it is structured, Reed noted.
“Not only do we pay them, but they’re getting college credit for it. So we want to treat them as more than just part-time workers. We want to get different kinds of news articles in the paper and take advantage of their talent and their time and do some really exciting work.”
Interim Dean Charlyne Berens, one of the professors supervising The Real World class, said the program is a huge benefit to the college.
“It means that the World-Herald believes in this program,” she said. “They wouldn’t put the money and commitment into it if they didn’t think this program is important. It gives our college a little extra recognition.”
Larry King, director of special projects for the World-Herald emphasized, as Gottschalk envisioned, the importance of establishing good relationships with journalists at UNL as a key to the paper’s future success.
“Working with UNL on a regular basis allows us to spot potential future employees and to work with the faculty to build a relationship that will allow us to spot and hire the best and the brightest in the future,” King said. “Many of the students in the J school are Nebraskans. It is good for our state, for our region, for our community and for our company to have the strongest program possible that can attract the top students from Nebraska to UNL.”
Joining Boyle in the inaugural class of fellows were Jordan Pascale, Tanna Kimmerling and Johnny Perez. The reporting fellows in fall 2009 were Aaron James, Kiah Haslett, Jamie Klein and Molly Youjg. Those selected to be fellows in spring 2010 are Travis Beck, David Houfek, Kate Veik and Caitlin Kern.
The four original fellows were glad to lay the foundation for the joint venture between the J school and the World-Herald.
“It’s Nebraska’s newspaper,” Boyle said. “And we’re Nebraska students.”
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