Links
New "Links" program brings journalism to city youth
By Janoah White
A new program designed by Journalism faculty members focuses on the youth of Chicago.
Columbia Links was developed to bring together journalism professionals, college students and Chicago Public Schools teachers and students in an effort to make youth more media savvy and introduce them to the world of journalism.
This program is the brainchild of Curtis Lawrence, former Chicago Sun-Times urban affairs reporter and current Columbia College journalism professor, with the help of Department Chair Nancy Day.
“The Journalism Department had been thinking of working with CPS for some time,” said Lawrence, a graduate of Harlan High School on the city’s South Side. “I thought it was important to reach out to schools across the city, not just the best students from the best schools.”
The Columbia Links program, which is funded by two grants totaling $150,000 from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, is under the direction of Lawrence and Day. The grants provide the budget for the program through 2007. The first task, Day said, was to find an excellent executive director, since she and Lawrence both have plenty to do already.
“We really lucked out when our top two candidates were interested in job-sharing,” Day commented. On Sept. 1, Sarah Karp and Billy Montgomery, both award-winning journalists who have already done extensive work with urban teens, were hired. With the help of Journalism Department staff members Chris Richert and Omar Castillo and consultant Karen Kring, the two have set up headquarters just outside The Columbia Chronicle newsroom in the Journalism Department, established a listserv and planned the first CPS teacher workshop to be held Nov. 4. Graduate student Frava Burgess designed a unique Web site for Links which will be launched soon, filled with information and resource links for CPS students and teachers.
“We are working to improve the outlook of high school media,” said Montgomery, a longtime undergraduate instructor at Columbia College and other institutions. “Bringing together the best resources from the professional and academic realm helps teens address the issues that impact their lives.”
The first initiative is to help teachers from various parts of the city reinvigorate or start high school publications, which could be print or online. The Links program plans to provide teachers with the training and resources to educate students using the tools and concepts of journalism to help them engage with their neighborhoods and their schools. Participants will be taught news and feature story generation, reporting, research and interviewing, along the way improving critical thinking skills. Students and teachers will also learn the basics of digital still photography and audio recording.
Students who are chosen by their teachers and Columbia College faculty members to be Columbia Links Scholars will have the opportunity to attend workshops at Columbia’s state-of-theart facilities.
“Billy and Sarah have already visited several high schools, and we will continue this outreach effort,” Day said. “Links mentors will be going to schools, and students and teachers will be coming here, too.”
Selected students will have the opportunity to meet and work with peers from neighborhoods across the city to produce a print, broadcast or multimedia project. In addition to promoting high school journalism, a key goal is to have some of the students’ work published in professional newspapers, online and in broader youth-oriented publications by the end of 2007.
“Helping teenagers in the city use journalism to tell about their community and their lives has been important to me since I was a teenager myself,” said Karp, who also writes for Catalyst magazine, which does independent reporting on reform in the Chicago Public Schools. Last spring, she won a prestigious Lisagor award for in-depth reporting published in The Chicago Reporter.
“The goal of Links is not only to have the teens learn and produce news media, but also to foster a sense of community and social development, as teens from different areas of the city come together to collaborate on a project,” Karp noted.
Under the Junior Links program, high school students will have the opportunity to be mentored by Columbia journalism students. Undergraduate or graduate students who would like to get involved or want more information should send an email to
Sarah@columbialinks.org, or contact Administrative Assistant Janoah White at the Links office, 312-344-8993.
By Janoah White
A new program designed by Journalism faculty members focuses on the youth of Chicago.
Columbia Links was developed to bring together journalism professionals, college students and Chicago Public Schools teachers and students in an effort to make youth more media savvy and introduce them to the world of journalism.
This program is the brainchild of Curtis Lawrence, former Chicago Sun-Times urban affairs reporter and current Columbia College journalism professor, with the help of Department Chair Nancy Day.
“The Journalism Department had been thinking of working with CPS for some time,” said Lawrence, a graduate of Harlan High School on the city’s South Side. “I thought it was important to reach out to schools across the city, not just the best students from the best schools.”
The Columbia Links program, which is funded by two grants totaling $150,000 from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, is under the direction of Lawrence and Day. The grants provide the budget for the program through 2007. The first task, Day said, was to find an excellent executive director, since she and Lawrence both have plenty to do already.
“We really lucked out when our top two candidates were interested in job-sharing,” Day commented. On Sept. 1, Sarah Karp and Billy Montgomery, both award-winning journalists who have already done extensive work with urban teens, were hired. With the help of Journalism Department staff members Chris Richert and Omar Castillo and consultant Karen Kring, the two have set up headquarters just outside The Columbia Chronicle newsroom in the Journalism Department, established a listserv and planned the first CPS teacher workshop to be held Nov. 4. Graduate student Frava Burgess designed a unique Web site for Links which will be launched soon, filled with information and resource links for CPS students and teachers.
“We are working to improve the outlook of high school media,” said Montgomery, a longtime undergraduate instructor at Columbia College and other institutions. “Bringing together the best resources from the professional and academic realm helps teens address the issues that impact their lives.”
The first initiative is to help teachers from various parts of the city reinvigorate or start high school publications, which could be print or online. The Links program plans to provide teachers with the training and resources to educate students using the tools and concepts of journalism to help them engage with their neighborhoods and their schools. Participants will be taught news and feature story generation, reporting, research and interviewing, along the way improving critical thinking skills. Students and teachers will also learn the basics of digital still photography and audio recording.
Students who are chosen by their teachers and Columbia College faculty members to be Columbia Links Scholars will have the opportunity to attend workshops at Columbia’s state-of-theart facilities.
“Billy and Sarah have already visited several high schools, and we will continue this outreach effort,” Day said. “Links mentors will be going to schools, and students and teachers will be coming here, too.”
Selected students will have the opportunity to meet and work with peers from neighborhoods across the city to produce a print, broadcast or multimedia project. In addition to promoting high school journalism, a key goal is to have some of the students’ work published in professional newspapers, online and in broader youth-oriented publications by the end of 2007.
“Helping teenagers in the city use journalism to tell about their community and their lives has been important to me since I was a teenager myself,” said Karp, who also writes for Catalyst magazine, which does independent reporting on reform in the Chicago Public Schools. Last spring, she won a prestigious Lisagor award for in-depth reporting published in The Chicago Reporter.
“The goal of Links is not only to have the teens learn and produce news media, but also to foster a sense of community and social development, as teens from different areas of the city come together to collaborate on a project,” Karp noted.
Under the Junior Links program, high school students will have the opportunity to be mentored by Columbia journalism students. Undergraduate or graduate students who would like to get involved or want more information should send an email to
Sarah@columbialinks.org, or contact Administrative Assistant Janoah White at the Links office, 312-344-8993.