Student writers and website manager sought for fall 2021
Photo provided by Pixabay
Student writers and website manager sought for fall 2021
For the 2021 fall term, The Mainstream, UCC’s student media organization, has three merit award positions available that offer 12 credits of free tuition to students. Merit awards are the monetary equivalent of twelve tuition credits in exchange for reporting or working on the student media website and social media platforms.
Students work for The Mainstream about seven hours a week in order to produce stories, video and photography for the student-led social media and newspaper website.
“We do all the training that is required so that students can produce award winning writing, photography and video,” said Melinda Benton, The Mainstream advisor, in an email.
Every year, articles are selected for competition. Under the guidance of Benton, The Mainstream staff has been recognized for their writing excellence many times. This year, writers for The Mainstream won first place in state for two entries as well as third place in state for two other stories.
“Students really do get a quality production, writing, and publication experience that rivals what they’d get at a larger school,” said Benton in an email.
“Writing for The Mainstream has given me a sense of connection with the school and the community that I never thought was possible.”
Savannah Peterson
Courses such as journalism allow students to expand their communication skills as well as connect more deeply with the college experience. Networking and understanding organizational structures are skills that will benefit students in both the professional arena and classroom setting.
Photo provided by Pixababy
“The paper has become something that I am so passionate about, and it was honestly such a surprise,” said Savannah Peterson, The Mainstream’s current social media manager. “I am so honored to become the managing editor starting fall term; I am excited to continue my growth in writing and communication skills as they have helped me so much in all my courses. Writing for The Mainstream has given me a sense of connection with the school and the community that I never thought was possible.”
Communication skills are coveted by employers and activities, so writing for the school paper stands out on resumes or applications for jobs and schools. With so many degrees offered at UCC, few courses provide the wide variety of long-term benefits as journalism production can offer for a variety of students in any degree program.
“Being the web editor has helped to grow and gain valuable experience on managing and uploading articles to the website as well as picture processing,” said Kacy Buxton. “Being a part of The Mainstream staff has also taught me just how important working hard as a team is. As a team you all must work together to get everything done on time, which ends up being worth the hard work when you get to see all the articles up on the website.”
Students interested in working for The Mainstream can contact Melinda Benton at melinda.benton@umpqua.edu and students interested in just taking the course itself should register for J215, Journalism Production. Another fall course J251, Writing for the Media, also teaches media communication skills.
Contact me at:
UCCMainstream@yahoo.com
For more articles by J.R. Williams please click here.
