Tag Archives: students

Commentary: Mass shooting coverage shows crucial role of student journalists

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By Eric Freedman
Capital News Service

Eric Freedman (Supplied/Capital News Service)

LANSING – When the horrendous shooting occurred on the Michigan State University campus, student journalists rushed in to cover the tragedy, its impact on the university and community, the investigation and university security.

Their reporting and photos about the Feb. 13 attack that killed three students and seriously wounded five others has appeared prominently in local and national media.

For example, the majority of student correspondents for Capital News Service, our public affairs reporting practicum, were quickly on the job, reporting for The State News – the independent student newspaper – Lansing City Pulse, Impact 89 (WDBM-FM) radio and Michigan Advance.

Articles by another MSU journalism student have been featured in the Washington Post.

In my role as a journalism professor, I see their professional-caliber work as a vivid demonstration of the importance of training the next generations of news gatherers and storytellers.

That’s increasingly crucial in an era when traditional U.S. mainstream news media – magazines and newspapers, radio and television stations – are slashing staff, merging companies, even going out of business. The trend is depriving the public of timely, fair, ethical and accurate information and news.

One damaging result is the growing number of “news deserts” in the United States, counties without a newspaper of their own.

The nonpartisan Center for Community News has been researching the growth of university-led, student-staffed news services that give students real-world experience while providing communities with the news they need.

 

“Millions of Americans get their news from student reporters working in university-coordinated newsrooms, news labs and classes,” the center pointed out in a study released earlier this year.

 

Such collaborations “are high-touch programs in which faculty teach and mentor students, edit and assign work and coordinate with media partners — enabling local stories that would not exist otherwise,” according to the center, which is based at the University of Vermont.

I fully endorse the center’s assertion that “local news is more than just a trusted source of critical information: It’s an essential ingredient in a healthy democracy. Communities with dedicated local news organizations report higher levels of civic engagement, social cohesion, and effective problem-solving.”

The center says, “We connect student journalists at every stage of life with local news organizations to help build a world in which every community has access to reliable information by and for the people who live there.”

MSU has two such news services.

Credit: Asher Freedman

Students in Capital News Service, now in its 41st year, report on Michigan public policy, government and politics for about 45 newspapers and online news outlets across the state.

Our subscribing member news organizations range in circulation size from the Detroit News to small community publications such as the WKTV Journal. They range geographically from Iron Mountain to Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula and from the Northern Lower Peninsula to Sturgis and Three Rivers in Southwest Michigan and Monroe, Blissfield and Adrian in Southeast Michigan.

Our second student-news service, Great Lakes Echo, reports on the environment – including energy, transportation, environmental justice and environmental health – in Michigan and the other Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces. Many of those stories are reposted by other news organizations in the region.

Elsewhere in the state, broadcast students at Eastern Michigan University partner with National Public Radio affiliate WEMU to produce audio stories, according to the Center for Community News.

Nationally, more than 100 colleges and universities have some type of academic-news collaborations, according to the center. In other Great Lakes states, there are also statehouse-focused programs run by the University of Illinois and by the State University of New York at New Paltz.

“Universities and colleges can provide leadership and resources to address the local news crisis,” the center’s January report said. “Many are doing something, but many could do more.”

They need to prepare students to cover the news that matters and the news that engages the public, whether it’s a mass shooting, the impacts of climate change, elections, pandemics, fluctuating gas prices, even the World Series and the Oscars.

As the center’s report puts it:“Democracy needs local news. Colleges and universities are part of the solution. Students are looking for meaningful experiences, and to learn by doing.”

Eric Freedman is the director of Capital News Service and the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University.

A passion to teach brings two new faces to Wyoming High

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Meet Art Teacher Cassandra Lawson

Regan Mead
WKTV Contributor

Cassandra Lawson (Courtesy, Wyoming Wolf Pack Press)

Cassandra Lawson loves art, but she loves teaching even more. For her, enjoying the job is the most important thing.

“If you want to be an art teacher you have to love teaching even more than you love art because it’s even more important,” Lawson said. “I think there are a lot of people that go into education who do it cause they love the art, they love science or social studies.

“Still, they don’t love teaching as much and you have to love teaching, which I do you have to be a people person. You have to talk to people all day and you’re using your brain all day long.”

Lawson went to Macomb Community College for a year and then finished off her schooling at Grand Valley State University. She majored in art education and minored in ceramics. She student taught at Grand Rapids Public Schools’ Coit Creative Arts Academy and teacher assisted here at Wyoming High School.


Lawson wanted to be a teacher originally but she added art to the title as well. She talked about the WHS’s welcoming student body.

“I love it,” she said. “I really like the student body I feel like everyone here has a sense of community and family. Everyone is really friendly. I’ve worked in other schools where everyone is pretty self-sufficient but I feel like here everyone leans on each other in a good way.”

Regan Mead is a junior at Wyoming High School. Regan is a journalism student and member of the cheer team.

Meet English Teacher Elizabeth Schoof

By Matthew Czurak
WKTV Contributor

Elizabeth Schoof (Courtesy, Wyoming Wolf Pack Press/Elizabeth Schoof)

To get to know her students, English teacher Elizabeth Schoof spent the first week of school playing fun games and activities such as the Soup-Salad-Sandwich game, where students not only learned a little about each other but also about Schoof such as her favorite book is the “Twilight”series.

“It was a good week it’s good and it was nice to get to meet and know and learn about each other,” Schoof said..

A graduate of Aquinas College, Schoof strides to be nice to all of her students and is always helpful if they are stuck or confused.

Everyone has role models and Schoof’s was her English teacher. Schoof herself not only was a student teacher, but she was also at one point a student who wanted to be a teacher. I asked her her opinion on the best first steps to becoming one.

“Pay attention to what teachers now are dealing with in the classroom cause you will deal with it too,” she said as advice to those wishing to pursue teaching as a career. “And when you are in the classroom pay attention in college.”

Before entering the field, most teachers start as student teachers, studying under other teachers. From the experience, they understand how students will think and act. I asked Ms. Schoof what her experience was like as a student teacher and if she thinks “it’s better being your own teacher.”

“It has been fun. it’s nice to be able to teach my own way without someone else controlling the classroom I like the freedom” was her reply to the question she also was a student teacher under her English teachers.

I asked Ms.Schoof what she would like people to know about her this was her response.”I like to have fun I like to talk I like to have conversations about what is going on in the world, cultures, movies all sorts of stuff”

Matt Czurak is a freshman journalism student at Wyoming High School. Matt enjoys French class.

Salvation Army Kroc Center hosts free block party

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Back for another summer of fun, The Salvation Army Kroc Center is holding its popular “Kroc Block Party” event Friday, Aug. 19, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. This event is free to both members and non-members.

Area students are invited to attend the Kroc Party event Friday. Aug. 19. (Supplied)

Kids and parents alike can cool off on the Kroc Center’s giant slip & slide. Community partners also will offer activities for families, including a bounce house and cotton candy provided by National Heritage Academies, a mobile gaming truck from the Kent County Prevention Coalition, and an appearance by the Grand Rapids Gold mascot, “Buckets.”

Other local organizations scheduled to participate with information and giveaways for families include Launch Trampoline Park, Consumers Energy, Family Futures, Kent County Head Start, YWCA West Central Michigan, Hope Network, and Health Net.

Families are also encouraged to learn more about Kroc Center membership, along with Kroc Church and other programs open to the public. Easy transportation is available via the Rapid’s Silver Line, which stops directly in front of the Kroc Center.

The event will be cancelled in the event of heavy rain or lightning. Visit the Kroc Center’s Facebook page or call 616-588-7200 for more information and updates.

National contest encourages students to envision an accepting society

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WKTV Staff
joanne@wktv.org

Deadline for the Dismantle Patriarchy Contest is April 7. (pxhere.com)

​​The gender-based violence prevention groups V-Day and A Call to Men have launched a competition calling on high school and college students to use their creative talents to Dismantle  Patriarchy. The Dismantle Patriarchy Contest challenges young people to use visual art, music, essay, story, poetry, video or photography to envision how they might change the larger societal system of patriarchy and create an accepting society.

According to the press release, patriarchy is a system of power whereby masculinity and men are marked as inherently more worthy than femininity and women. This puts men on top, giving them more access to power, resources, and even knowledge. It tells women that they deserve less: less money, less freedom, less strength. And it erases people who don’t ascribe to traditional gender roles, too often with violence. Through this contest, students will be encouraged to question, challenge, and break down patriarchy and show what a post-patriarchal world looks like.

The Dismantle Patriarchy contest consists of two categories of competition: high school and college. Ten winners from each category will receive $1,000 prizes. All final submissions are due April 7, 2022, and an awards ceremony for the winners will be held in late April 2022.

Questions that entrants should consider for their submissions include:

  • Think about how the concept of gender and gender roles shape our lives. How do they impact you and your peers, your family?
  • What does patriarchy mean to youth today?
  • How does patriarchy affect transgender people and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender-based violence?
  • If you view gender differently than you’ve previously been taught to see it, how do you think your worldview will change? What does that mean for the future and our world?
  • Who does patriarchy prioritize? What would a non-patriarchal world look like for traditionally marginalized and excluded folks?

How would you Dismantle Patriarchy?

For additional information on the Dismantle Patriarchy Contest, see below and also visit https://dismantlepatriarchy.org/

Use energy drinks when cramming for exams?

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For a healthy boost during studying, try high-intensity exercise, or even just a quick run up and down the stairs. (Courtesy Spectrum Health Beat)

By American Heart Association, HealthDay


Final exams–and the ensuing all-night study sessions they cause–are looming large for many students across the country. But reaching for energy drinks to perk up those drooping eyelids and boost study performance could do more harm than good.


Recent research shows just one energy drink can affect blood vessel function. And other studies have shown these caffeine-and-herbal concoctions can increase stress hormones and are linked to changes in blood pressure and the heart’s electrical activity.


“What I say to people who are studying is to avoid energy drinks. And to people who are exercising, avoid them,” said Dr. John Higgins, chief of cardiology at Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, a sports cardiologist and a professor at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston.


Higgins led a study that looked at the effects of energy drinks on blood vessel function on 44 non-smoking, healthy medical students who were in their 20s. He and his colleagues tested the students’ blood vessel, or endothelial, function and then tested it again 90 minutes after they had consumed a 24-ounce energy drink.


The preliminary results, presented earlier this month at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions conference, suggest the drink reduced by about half how much the participants’ blood vessels were able to dilate, or expand.


“During exercise or under stress, your arteries have to open up because they need to get blood to the muscles, heart and brain,” Higgins said. “If there is impairment during exercise or mental stress, it could lead to adverse effects.”


The market for caffeine-infused energy drinks has grown during the last decade, with new blends adding vitamins and other ingredients touting everything from memory enhancement to concentration benefits. According to research company Statista, energy drink sales reached $2.8 billion in 2016, with consistent increases since 2011. A 2016 Statista survey of 18- to 69-year-olds showed 1 in 4 people had an energy drink almost every day.


Coffee and its caffeine have gotten the green light, in moderation, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Federal dietary guidelines published every five years as a go-to source for nutrition advice say three to five cups a day, which can be up to 400 milligrams a day of caffeine, can be part of a healthy diet.


But Higgins said energy drinks are more than just caffeine.


“We suspect it has to do with their blends,” he said. “They have lots of sugar and caffeine, but also taurine, an amino acid, guaranine (from a South American plant), another source of caffeine, and they sometimes have vitamins. But they have these substances at levels in excess of the recommended daily allowance, sometimes even 10 times or more.”


On campus, there’s a common pattern, said LaVelle Hendricks, an associate professor of counseling and a student affairs coordinator at Texas A&M University-Commerce, about an hour northeast of Dallas. When students are dealing with stress and lack of sleep, “when they get close to exam time, they turn to these drinks,” he said. “They get this boost of energy, but then they have headaches and they crash. As a way to re-energize and get that same boost, they repeat the cycle.”


The tough-but-true advice is there are no shortcuts.


“You have to stick to a regimen,” Hendricks said. “It entails going to class, studying, eating right, exercising right and getting the proper amount of sleep.”


A Journal of American College Health study in 2011 said the consumption of energy drinks has been associated with perceived stress levels of college students. Middlebury College in Vermont banned the on-campus sale of energy drinks. In Britain, many supermarkets have begun banning sales to children under 16, and the government is considering other restrictions.


Higgins said he’d like more short- and long-term studies that show how these energy drinks – and their blends of ingredients – work on the body. So far, the evidence has been inconsistent, he said, with some showing improved performance, some reduced and others no effect.


Higgins warns that some people are more at risk for the effects from energy drinks, including people under 18; people of small stature; people who don’t normally drink caffeine or are sensitive to it; pregnant or breastfeeding women; people taking stimulants for conditions such as attention deficit disorder; and people with certain medical or cardiovascular conditions.


For a healthy boost during studying, Higgins suggests high-intensity exercise, or even just a quick run up and down the stairs. Getting outside, “stretching the eyes” with relaxed nature-watching or a power nap also can help, he said.


“If you are really that tired and coffee isn’t keeping you awake, you should probably go to sleep. You aren’t going to remember anything for the test anyway.”


Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.


Employment Expertise: Preparing students for college and careers

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By West Michigan Works!


February is Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month, a national campaign to increase awareness and celebrate the value of programs that prepare students for the world of work.

What is Career and Technical Education?

CTE programs provide classes that directly prepare students for high-wage, high-demand careers. They are offered through high schools, CTE centers, charter schools, community colleges and four-year universities across Michigan.


CTE has come a long way in the last decade, but there are still outdated perceptions of what it is and isn’t. Today’s CTE programs deliver:

Real options for college and rewarding careers

CTE programs aren’t the shop classes of the past; they prepare students (middle school, high school and post-secondary) for both college and careers. While CTE used to be the collage alternative, it’s now more of a college pathway. Today’s programs provide opportunities for college credit, credentials and meaningful work-based learning experiences.


Fact: CTE students are more likely to have a post-high school plan, including college.1

Real-world skills

CTE provides hands-on learning and the skills and confidence to explore and pursue career options in industries that are in critical need of talent, such as health sciences and information technology. CTE students gain practical, relevant, marketable skills that will make them more employable.


Fact: CTE students and parents are three times more likely than those not involved in CTE to report they are confident in their ability to learn real-world skills as a part of their curriculum. 1

A valuable educational experience 

CTE programs provide opportunities for specialized classes, internships and networking with industry experts. Student not only learn technical and academic skills, they learn critical employability skills1. Career and technical education helps students see how what they’re learning applies to the needs of employers.


The high school graduation rate for CTE students is 97 percent, compared to an average of 80 percent statewide. 2


This is the first in a series on career and technical education. Future articles will highlight CTE programs across West Michigan and how they’re helping students prepare for college and career.


Employment Expertise is provided by West Michigan Works! Learn more about how they can help: visit westmiworks.org or your local Service Center.


1. The Value and Promise of Career Technical Education: Results from a National Survey of Parents and Students, Advance CTE and the Siemens Foundation, April 2017


2. U.S. Department of Education, Perkins Data Explorer

School News Network: Godwin Heights High School Provides Room to ‘Rest, Recharge, Refocus’

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The Godwin Heights Empowerment Room is a place to rest, relax and then start thing about possibilities.

By Erin Albanese

School News Network

 

In a room at Godwin Heights High School that formerly served as the site for in-house suspension, students now come for help in the areas of college, career and comfort.

 

The Empowerment Room is a recently revamped space serving a two-pronged purpose: a needed area for decompression and quiet, and a place to think big about the future.

 

“It’s a humongous paradigm shift,” said school counselor Kristi Bonilla, referring to it as a place of support rather than punishment. “The hope, goal, dream of this is that kids feel like they have a place to reset, recharge, refocus and be empowered.”

 

Juniors Dominic Donato and Mamadee Diabate take a break.

While the room is still in its infancy, Bonilla and fellow counselor Tish Stevenson envision it as a place where students can take momentary refuge. It could be during lunch, when they have time outside of class, or when the demands of teenage life bubble over and they need to reel in their emotions. They can also use it to channel their energy into preparation for what comes after graduation day.

 

“We wanted it to be a center for yoga, breathing and reset time,” Stevenson said. “We also wanted it to be a place for community members to meet with students.”

 

Meetings have already taken place between students and representatives from college, the military and the Urban League, who helped students apply for jobs.
Yoga sessions will begin soon.

 

Funded by a $1,000 grant from Wyoming Community Foundation, the room’s seating area has space for reclining and relaxing, comfy chairs and pillow. Yoga mats fill a corner bin, ready for poses. Students come in for the peacefulness, to talk to the counselors and eat lunch in a quiet place.

 

“We have a long day,” Stevenson said. “If you are a teenager mixing in with all the other teenagers in the day, you need a break.”

 

Equipping Students with Lifelong Skills

Bonilla and Stevenson have both completed training in cognitive behavior modification at the University of Michigan. They are using it to help students become more mindful, aware and rational in reacting to situations.

 

Yoga helps students deal with stress.

The end goal is to improve learning and develop lifelong skills, plus decrease detentions and suspension using a non-punitive approach. While the school still uses detentions and in-house and out-of-school suspensions, the counselors aim to be proactive in addressing behavior issues.

 

Common stressors in teens’ lives include test anxiety, social anxiety, family issues and relationships. Those things often manifest themselves as behavior problems.

 

“Being a teenager is stressful,” Stevenson said.

 

Juniors Mamadee Diabate and Dominic Donato juggle between classes at Godwin Heights and programs at Kent Career Technical Center, as well as working and volunteering. They both often come to the room to relax and talk with counselors.

 

“I feel it will be beneficial for our students because there’s a lot of stress going on,” Mamadee said. “I definitely will use it for yoga.”

 

“It’s kind of a relaxing place to let stuff come out,” Dominic said, “… not talk to anyone, and just be quiet.”

 

Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.