student news

The 2010 legislative reporting interns. Back: Kaitlin Strohschein (left), Brionna Friedrich, Andrew Doughman, front: Maks Goldenshteyn, Lillian Tucker. Not pictured: Chantal Anderson, Sepideh Behzadpour, Camden Swita.

Interns cover Washington Legislature for regional media

Eight University of Washington students worked as full-time reporters during the 2010 Washington State Legislative Session. The annual internship program partners qualified students with media outlets around the region during winter quarter.

• Chantal Anderson, Northwest News Network Public Radio
• Sepideh Behzadpour, University of Washington Daily
• Andrew Doughman, Skagit Valley Herald
• Brionna Friedrich, Lewiston Tribune
• Maks Goldenshteyn, McClatchy Newspapers
• Kaitlin Strohschein, Puget Sound Business Journal
• Camden Swita, Knowledge as Power
• Lillian Tucker, The Seattle Times

Katelin Chow covers Winter Olympics for CBS

Journalism major Katelin Chow covered the Winter Olympics in Vancouver during her winter quarter internship with CBS.

Six undergraduates invited into honors organization Phi Beta Kappa

Six Communication students received invitations to join Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most respected undergraduate honors organization in the United States. The Society's emblem, a key, is widely recognized as a symbol of academic achievement. The students are: Erika Cederlind, Michelle Dryjanski, Stephanie Dunlap, Emily Eggers, Naomi Kieser and Molly Rosbach.

Chantal Anderson reports for China Daily during Foreign Intrigue internship

Chantal Anderson worked for the China Daily as a Journalism Foreign Intrigue intern.  Read Chantal’s blog on her experience: www.snapbeijing.tumblr.com. Chantal covered the snowfall in Beijing, which made big news in a country not accustomed to cold weather. China Daily posted a video of the snow day that features her videos: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/video/2009-11/13/content_9025056.htm

 

 

PhD student from Haiti reflects on images published in media

Manoucheka Celeste, a doctoral student in the UW Department of Communication, spoke to students in the Community News Lab class shortly after the January earthquake in Haiti and wrote an editorial for The Seattle Times. Celeste reflected on the images of dead Haitians that have flooded newspapers and television sets around the country. Celeste studies the representation of race in the media. Because she is originally from Port-au-Prince, coverage of this disaster has especially hit home. Read an account of her visit to News Lab and find a link to her Times editorial >>

Anna Norman associate producer of National Geographic's 'Border Wars'

Anna Norman is on leave from the University of Washington and employed as an associate producer for National Geographic Television. She recently worked on a new documentary series called "Border Wars." The show follows the officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection as they patrol the U.S.-Mexico border at the ports of entry, in the desert, and from the air. The first episode aired Jan. 10, 2010.

Introducing the Washington Debate Coalition

by John Sullivan

A study published in the Journal of Negro Education showed that debate participants in the Chicago Debate League over a 10-year period were 70 percent more likely to graduate and three times less likely to drop out than those who did not participate.

Yet despite these benefits to students and society, only four universities in Washington state have policy debate teams, and the University of Washington is not one of them.

A new independent nonprofit organization with a strong connection to the UW Communication Department wants to bring back that team and more — the Washington Debate Coalition (WDC).

Founded by UW Communication PhD student Anjali Vats, the WDC is an educational development organization dedicated to providing high school and college students with opportunities to participate in policy debate. To facilitate participation, it offers incentives like college tuition and summer debate camp scholarships, infrastructure-building programs such as new program support and coach placement, and promotion through community events like public debates. It supports policy debate as a means for students to become informed citizens and develop excellent skills in public speaking, persuasion, critical thinking, and research.

Vats is also a graduate of the Master of Law in Intellectual Property Law and Policy program at the UW School of Law, and an attorney. In 2008 she returned to UW, after clerking for the Nevada State Supreme Court, to begin her PhD. She has been involved in policy debate since high school, and has coached for several highly successful college programs.

Founded in 2008, the WDC has started its work in Washington with a three-pronged focus on high schools, colleges, and communities.

Fostering relationships between current and former debaters interested in coaching and high school programs seeking coaching assistance is one of the main ways the WDC plans to increase the overall number of high school programs in the state.

The organization also offers training for administrators, debaters, and judges. Last fall, it helped run a seminar at UW for novice high school debaters and coaches.

The WDC also hosts an annual high school tournament named after UW alum and debater Becky Galentine, who died from breast cancer in 1999. With the help of UW journalism professor and WDC board member Karen Rathe, the organization held the first Becky Galentine Memorial Round Robin last December on the UW campus. Winning teams and top speakers at the tournament received scholarships to Washington summer debate camps — providing a strong incentive for students to continue competing. Student and teacher reviews of the tournament were excellent, and there are plans to expand its scope to accommodate more participants next year.

Another major goal of the WDC is to start or restart policy debate programs at all of the community colleges and universities in Washington, including UW.

Demonstrating how college debate can promote responsible citizenship and bring benefit to communities outside the university, the WDC has been working to involve college policy debaters in public forums. It worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a company called Debate Solutions to put on two public debates addressing environmental policies of concern to the Pacific Northwest. The EPA has been sponsoring such debates as a way to inform the public about its policies and issues. Vats, representing the WDC, was a key part of those debates as an organizer, researcher, coach, and presenter.

The WDC's next goal is to get to know debate alumni in Washington better — to hear their debate "war stories," to understand how their debate experiences have shaped their lives and careers, and to find support for establishing new teams throughout the state. Vats and the WDC are inviting everyone in Washington who was on a high school or college debate team to reach out and share their stories at info@washingtondebate.org, and to support the WDC at http://www.washingtondebate.org/get-involved.html.

Additionally, the organization is hosting its first-ever debate alumni gathering the weekend of May 14, 2010, in Seattle. Everyone in Washington who was on a debate team or is interested in supporting debate in the state is invited to come out for an evening of fun, reminiscing — and probably some arguing. Details about the event and other WDC activities are available on its web site, http://washingtondebate.org. Anjali Vats can be contacted directly at anjali@washingtondebate.org.