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Mass Comm offers journalism mentoring

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By Stephanie Rodriguez

The journalism student stares at the

yellow police tape at the crime scene.

She takes in the scene with great interest. She intently listens in as the seasoned reporter asks a police detective questions about the victim. This is a real world learning experience for the journalism student.

Fresno State's Mass Communication and Journalism Department, along with the San Francisco State Journalism Department, started providing such experiences through a journalism-mentoring program in 2000. The Knight Foundation, a philanthropic extension of Knight-Ridder newspapers, granted a request from the two universities for $1 million to extend a 10-year-old mentoring program to Fresno State and four Bay Area community colleges.

Since then, the program has provided coaching for more than 60 students. More than 40 San Joaquin Valley journalists, including those who work for The Fresno Bee, Visalia Times-Delta and KSEE Channel 24, volunteer their time as writing coaches.

Dr. Jim Flanery, Tatarian Chair in the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism and coordinator for the Fresno State mentoring program, feels that students who participate in the program benefit greatly.

"Coached students perform better in class, are more serious about journalism as a profession and stand a better chance of getting internships and jobs," he said.

According to Flanery, the program is attracting so much attention that the California Newspaper Publishers Association is exploring ways to extend it to other CSU campuses in the state.

Virginia Sellars-Erxleben, student coordinator of the program, said the mentoring program has allowed students to experience the real world of reporting.

"The mentoring program gives students confidence in their writing. Students get excited about journalism because they see the different paths a career can take," said Sellars-Erxleben.

Pablo Lopez, police reporter for The Fresno Bee, enjoys teaching about the trials and tribulations, as well as rewards, of working in journalism.

"I want to expose my students to the real life. The hardships of getting information, the pressures of being fair. I also want them to know the job is fun, exciting and important. I find it rewarding helping students who really want to learn," said Lopez.

Lisa Padilla, a mass communication and journalism student, feels that she gains from learning from her mentors.

"They are very open about their own experiences in the field and have shared both their personal highs and lows with me. That is very encouraging because as a student looking on, it's easy to assume that they do perfect work every time," said Padilla.

The journalism mentoring program also has improved relations between the MCJ department and local newspapers. Most of the participating newspapers recruit students from the department. Also, three mentors taught journalism classes last semester, and several mentors have lectured in classes and at department-sponsored workshops.

Russell Minick, an editorial writer for The Bee, enjoys the students' excitement for the world of reporting.

"One of the nice things we see in most of the students is enthusiasm, and that serves as a reminder of why we all once thought - and still do think - that we wanted to do this stuff for a living," said Minick.

Stephanie Rodriguez is a University Relations student intern.

Back to University Journal, 4/02/02 Issue