Writing for the college's student-run newspaper

Parents Forum
1

<p>Hey parents, Darth again.</p>

<p>Do any of your kids write for the college's newspaper? If so what was the process? Is "formal" prior experience necessary (meaning writing for the High School paper)? I've never written for our high school paper because of other time commitments.</p>

<p>But I've had a strange desire to write for a the campus newspaper ever since I've started looking at them.</p>

<p>I've mentioned interning at a think tank several times, I've updated their website (and re-written many of the material). I believe that counts, right?</p>

2

<p>I don't see why you wouldn't be able to write for your school newspaper. My D writes for her school paper and never had any experience writing for her high school paper, but it wasn't an issue. If you're interested, motivated and have a passion for writing for the paper, then it sounds like a wonderful opportunity. D is interested in the arts (cinema, music, ballet, theatre, etc.), so she concentrates on those specific areas when writing her articles. It has been a wonderful opportunity for her in terms of being able to critique specific works and also interview various people/music groups who work in the industry. It's an extracurricular activity, so she can choose the topics weekly, meaning that she doesn't necessarily have to write an article every week - she waits until there is something that's relevant to her specific interest - whether it's interviewing a band, or going to a press screening of a film and then reviewing that - these are just some examples of the type of writing that she's interested in.</p>

3

<p>Darth,
No reason not to begin as a freshman. Go to meetings, write articles as often as you can, and you will move up in the hierarchy.</p>

4

<p>Go to the meetings and get an assignment. If you are reliable, you will probably be very busy. My older son was managing editor of his college paper by the start of the his second year.</p>

5

<p>I haven't posted here in a while..</p>

<p>I wrote one article for my school paper last semester, but photojournalism is my concentration, so I got a little more than a half dozen photos published before I began an internship at a local paper.</p>

<p>Now it's different. I can write, but the paper pays 5 dollars per photo and 10 per article. I am only at school twice a week for a few hours (Senior living an hour away) with a drive that costs me 10 dollars. </p>

<p>I know your question did not pertain to money, but I can make 150 shooting a high school football game while freelancing for a local paper. </p>

<p>But seriously, if you want to become a writer for your campus paper, they'd probably love to have you.</p>

<p>My paper begged photographers to write too, and now they want me to shoot sports!</p>

6

<p>every school is different and so is there paper</p>

<p>Most likely each school has different ways of recruiting writers- some may just be walk on, some may require submission of samples, etc</p>

<p>you just need to go to the offices, email the editors, etc to see how your school handles it and what the process is</p>

<p>larger schools may have a different approach than smaller schools, just because of sheer volume of interest</p>

<p>I need to mention the photo $$ to my D, who shoots pictures for her HS....$ is a great motivator</p>

7

<p>My school sends the editor and managing editor to all the initial Mass Comm classes.</p>

<p>Keep in mind the school can probably provide photo equipment. Mine provided decent cameras which most students used in the "automatic" mode :(</p>

<p>I have about $2500 invested in photo equipment, which I use extensively outside school.</p>