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Students Take Gritty Look at Life in Workforce -- U of M Program Pairs Journalism Achievers With Professionals

Posted on: Friday, 23 December 2005, 21:00 CST

By Maria Burnham burnham@commercialappealcom

In the crusty, old days of journalism, people became reporters by apprenticing to the local newspaper, starting off as copy boys and working up.

Now, most reporters are college graduates whose first exposure to a newspaper is an internship, if they're lucky, or their college paper.

That leaves a lot of room for distorted expectations, said Mark Henry, president of Signature Advertising.

So Henry, along with the rest of the University of Memphis journalism alumni board, started a mentorship program last year pairing promising students with local professionals in the communications industry.

"In a nutshell, what this was meant to do is help round out the education they're getting," Henry said.

The board established the framework of the mentorship, requiring a minimum of one face-to-face meeting a month, but placing no cap on the length of the relationship. The structure is also left up to mentor and student to decide.

"We wanted to take fuller advantage of this great group of professionals we had, to help facilitate (the student's) transition into the workplace," Henry said.

"Beside some scholarship programs ... we never got to meet any of the students, and the students never got to ask us any questions. I felt there was a need ... to get the business world more involved in the student world."

Journalism, like business, law and medicine, is a profession- oriented college major and students need to be prepared to practice when they graduate, said Jim Redmond, chairman of the department of journalism at the University of Memphis.

Students often have an idealistic view of how something is going to be, he said. But the reality of the business is it's dependent on advertising - not something most students are thinking about in the classroom.

"I think there ought to be a strong connection between what we are teaching in the classroom and what they'll have to do when they get out in the working world," Redmond said.

"I think if you were talking to a nursing dean, it would be much the same. They'd say to get them out into the clinic."

The program started out with four students and four volunteer mentors culled from the alumni board.

Eight new mentors were added this year, but the board found it had more interested students than mentors. It had 22 applicants and had to set up an interview process to pick eight students.

They've already started interviews with students for the spring semester, which is when the new mentorships begin.

Mentors are all alumni of the University of Memphis journalism school.

Students have a lot of questions about what the real world is like, Henry said.

They take a big-eyed, inquisitive approach, asking about what goes on at newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations or advertising and public relations agencies.

"You go through college and work as a waiter or something like that and have very little exposure to the industry in which you have an interest," Henry said. "What we try to do is help them focus on what will make them interesting and most valuable to a perspective employer."

Courtney Noles, a 20-year-old student with an advertising concentration, has mentored with Henry for almost a year and says the experience has been incredible.

"I love it. I'm learning a lot. I'm constantly surrounded by the lingo and the work and the clientele. Mark has been great. He's always available to talk, no matter how small or stupid it seems."

Noles, who will be a senior in January, said she was interested in the program because it would set her apart from other students and help get her foot in the door. She starts an internship at Signature Advertising in January.

"It's really putting me on the path," she said.

- Maria Burnham: 529-2320

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Student requirements:

Declared journalism major.

2.0 overall GPA or higher.

Passed Journalism 1700.

For more information, contact Vanessa Muldrow at vmuldroow@ memphis.edu.

Mentor requirements:

Graduate of the U of M journalism department.

Currently working in a journalism-related field, preferably in the Mid-South.

Minimum of five years' experience.

For more information, contact Mark Henry at mark@sig-ad.com.

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Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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