GALA FUND-A-NEED RAISES MORE THAN $25,000 FOR REPORT FOR MINNESOTA

The internship program will continue thanks to the generous support.

Last summer, the School launched a pilot internship program, Report for Minnesota. Journalism instructor Gayle Golden matched two journalism students with two outstate newspapers for a 10-week, 20-hour-per-week paid internship. Thanks to a generous donation, the School could offer the students not only a paid internship, but also housing support, allowing them to take this training experience outside of the Twin Cities.

This was a win-win situation for both the student and the newspaper; the newspaper received an intern who otherwise would not have been about to consider an outstate opportunity, and the student walked away with invaluable experience.

During the School’s Centennial Gala, the hope was to expand the program through a fund-aneed live auction and add other prestigious Report for Minnesota summer experiences that provide students with statewide or even national opportunities in multimedia journalism. With two seed donors at $10,000 each, as well as more than 50 others giving between $100 and $1,000, the School was able to raise more than $25,000, unlocking a $25,000 match from the Hubbard family.

To support programs like Report for Minnesota, please contact the School’s giving officer, Alex Stern, at astern@umn.edu

“To go into a community knowing no one, reporting often by myself on really any topic, I am very proud of myself. I tackled health care, public health, public policy, and interest stories and I felt like with each story I was doing more than I could do the time before. I do really think this is a quality that’s unique to small town reporting as you’re often doing everything all at once. It has boosted my confidence to feel like if given sufficient time and support I could cover just about anything, which I think is a hard thing to come by in today’s news internships.”

—Mitchell Levesque, student, Swift County Monitor

“When we give our students the opportunity to work in a rural or outstate newsroom, we give them the foundation for everything they need as journalists. They learn the importance of trust-building and source development. They see the impact of their stories on people and institutions. They witness the consequences on a community when local news is difficult to get. Their perspectives change. These internships are the future.”

—Gayle Golden, instructor

“Since I had the opportunity to pitch my own stories and was assigned stories, I was able to get a really solid idea of what was newsworthy in this community, especially through reading through their past coverage, which was extensive. The variety of stories I got to write was amazing in showing me what interests me most and what kinds of stories I excel at. I am so grateful I got to do this.”

—Olivia Stevens, student, The Mankato Free Press

“Olivia demonstrated a professionalism well beyond her years. She is personable, a critical thinker and willing to do what she needs to do to complete a task to the best of her ability. We’d hire her in a heartbeat if she were available right now to fill a position. She has all the attributes of a new hire that we look for: reporting and writing skills, critical thinking skills, and an eagerness to learn and improve. It was much appreciated that she was given a mileage allowance so she could do most of her reporting in person and be part of the staff when they were in the office.”

“We showed Mitchell a broad range of how a community newspaper works. I would hope that his experience at the Monitor-News put him on the path to the next steps in his journey as a journalist.”

—Reed Anfinson, Swift County Monitor in Benson, Minn.