Hendricks named Faculty Champion by Center for Community News

Marina Hendricks, associate professor in the South Dakota State University School of Communication and Journalism, was named a Faculty Champion by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont. She is the first faculty member in the state to receive the honor.

According to the University of Vermont, “These individuals are being recognized for their efforts to start or expand university-led reporting programs in their region, and their contribution to a national movement of student-powered community reporting.”

This is the third year of the program, which began as an award that recognized journalism faculty and now offers a yearlong fellowship. There were 150 recipients of the recognition, the largest cohort to date.

Each faculty champion receives a $1,000 reward, paired with support from peers in the program and coaching opportunities. Participants are also placed into strategic cohorts led by program alumni.

As part of this fellowship, faculty champions bring forward a specific journalism challenge they are facing in their communities and then present an idea to address the challenge.

“Our challenge is primarily faculty workload, because our staff is small,” Hendricks explained. “My goal is by the end of the year, we will pilot a model for South Dakota teens to produce news content for their communities by recruiting, training and mentoring three to five high school journalists; I want to start small, and I want to be intentional.”

Hendricks sees the School of Communication and Journalism’s role as facilitating, connecting people and providing a framework.

“The local news landscape is so important to helping us all be informed and active citizens,” Hendricks said. “I see a real benefit in introducing high school students who are interested in journalism, or simply interested in their communities, to have the ability to work with us here at SDSU and the media professionals we hope to bring together for this project.”

This project is inspired by the work Hendricks did for her hometown newspaper years ago as the editor of a magazine designed specifically for high schools.

As part of that project, Hendricks was tasked with the magazine development and the recruitment and mentorship of student journalists — a similar concept she is looking to take on for this high school student-led reporting project.

“High school students are capable of doing serious work,” Hendricks said. “They are interested in the typical teenage milestones like prom and graduation — as well as pop culture, sports and other things we adults associate with teen life — but they are very interested in serious topics, too. So, I want to help nurture that interest.”

Hendricks hopes that students who participate in the program will recognize the benefits of journalism in their communities, regardless of their career paths.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that they will grow up to be journalists, but they will grow up to be informed citizens who appreciate what local news brings to their communities, and they’ll advocate for that.”