11/17/20 Weekly Update

November 17, 2020

TO:
Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service (WIPPS)
Student Journalism Program Media Partners

FROM:
Roger Utnehmer, Director
Student Journalism Program
Utnehmer@gmail.com
920 495 9677

RE: Weekly Update

Welcome to several new media partners and congratulations on finding high school student journalists.  We have a growing number of students who are expressing interest in learning how to write news and becoming more involved in civic affairs.

The purpose of this student journalism program is to recruit high school students and introduce them to opportunity in Wisconsin newspapers and radio stations.

Participating media partners control details like story topics, payment to students,  and specific policies and procedures.

The staff at The Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service is available to make this as easy and smooth as possible for our media partners.  We can provide sample employment agreements, recruitment ads, letters to school guidance counselors and a pair of “second eyes” to review stories before taking up the time of our media partners to edit.

This week I shared with students some thoughts from Harvey MacKay’s book, What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School.  The author suggests employees should be evaluated with three standards of measurement;

  1. Immediate follow up.
  2. Concern for small detail.
  3. Exceeding minimum standards.

Hopefully, our high school student participants will consider Harvey MacKay’s advice as they become more active in this program.

I also reviewed with students that the process starts with them making contact with their media partner to approve a story topic.  I have offered to review their submissions before sending to you in order to save your time and effort doing preliminary editing.

If you do not hear from a student participant as often as you would like please reach out and feel free to suggest story topics.  Students receive suggestions weekly but you can always assign something of interest to you.

Thank you for your interest in promoting civic engagement and career opportunities in journalism.  Please let me know if I can answer questions or provide assistance.