When people think of giving back to the community, they think sandwich lines, clean-up service, and financial charity.
Though all of these are great and important, there is no better way to give back to your community than with the very talents you are practicing for your career.
Give back with what you do best.
I spent my first week of summer at the Oregon State University campus being journalistically revived by 24 bright-eyed, teenaged writers. For the past three years, I’ve dedicated June 19th through the 27th to the High School Journalism Institute, a joint effort between the Oregonian and Oregon State to promote newsroom diversity. It is, without question, the most cultural journalistic experience possible in Oregon — students in the program are all from underrepresented backgrounds.
It’s an amazing thing to witness; Lars Larson hated on it — so we must be doing something right out there. In just eight days, these amateur journalists are required to produce a 40-page, professional-grade paper. Each student is required to write a profile about another camper, a news story, a blog post, and several are even required to write columns. The kids work in pairs on the stories and are placed under the wing of a professional as an editor.
Yeah, this definitely ain’t outdoor school — no singing and taking hikes at this camp.
I participated in this camp as a writer in 2008, and I loved it so much, that I came back the next two years to RA for it. Though my job description only required me to make sure the kids get from the newsroom to their meals and back to the dorms in which they reside in, I offer my talents as much as I can — editing pieces, working with columns and even writing blogs for the online site.
That paper, and the campers’ motive, mean the world to me. In a nation where one-third of the population is a minority, newsrooms are just 13.26 percent minority. Because the media is only effective and relevant if it adequately represents its community, this is a waving red flag.
In a Hispanic Link News Service article titled, “Non-white Journalists Affected Most by Newspaper Cutbacks,” Rosalba Ruiz points out that though “personnel employed by the daily press declined by about 11 percent, from 46,700 to 41,500; among non whites, it dropped 12.6%, from 6,300 to 5,500, down more than 25 percent from its peak of 7,400 in 2006.”
We are losing our journalistic diversity, and our ability to adequately represent the nation in which we reside in is at risk.
This is an issue I take very seriously; as a minority journalist, I needed to find some way to give hope to the future and inspire more journalists from underrepresented backgrounds to acquire the skills they need to succeed in the newsroom. This camp is my way to do just that. A lot of those kids in that institute continue to pursue careers in journalism, and next year, three students I’ve watched in that newsroom will be incoming freshmen at our school.
Knowing that I was a part of the camp that helped them realize what they wanted to do is very enriching.
It reminds me why I want to be a journalist — even though my odds of getting a job right now are about the same as Steve Nash’s chances of winning a slam dunk contest.
Being there and giving so much of my energy made me realize how college students should think about community service: Our career talents, and objectives, ought to be practiced and shared when we do acts of charity.
If you learned that you are fascinated with something and talented at it, what better way to express that passion than to display that experience with people and give back using it?
Are you a pre-med student? Volunteer at a hospital or work with the Red Cross.
Are you an environmental science major? There are probably a billion things you can do in the Eugene area that can help the environment.
Pre-education? Ask around about ways in which you can help out local school districts.
Don’t be afraid to try something new or start your own cause because great things have to start somewhere.
Both the community and we as students would benefit most from us finding causes that relate to our passions and future. Don’t do things just because they “look good”; do them because they feel good and they are good for your development as a person and a professional.
For me, knowing that I have the honor of spending every summer making a difference in something I take very seriously keeps me energized and motivated to keep making strides in my own career.
You don’t have to give out a million dollars, clean up every street corner, or suck your veins dry of blood to be a charitable person. All you have to do is showcase your love for your career and the community while guiding others on the right path to success.
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