ASJA Members Reflect on Student Journalism Days

ASJA opened applications for student membership on Sept. 30. To show current students possible career paths and opportunities, we wanted to highlight members who got their start by working on their campus newspapers. 

Of course, not all of us who worked on the student paper intended to go into journalism or even necessarily into writing as a profession. After a decade, or a few, careers often twist and turn. For you, students, who knows if much about this field will even be recognizable in, say, 2050?

Look, laugh, and think… and best wishes from us.

Stories from Former Student Journalists Turned Professional Writers

Debbie Carlson, business, retirement and occasional lifestyles writer

• In college: features and news writer, former managing editor of The Daily Eastern News, Eastern Illinois University
• What it led to: “All I ever wanted to do was write, and journalism gave me that opportunity. I started as a general assignment reporter at a small daily newspaper and leapt at the chance to move back to Chicago, even though I was taking a job writing about something I knew nothing about: futures markets. That led to writing for national and eventually international media: newswires, print, and online publications. I’ve had the chance to interview a famous makeup artist and write about energy markets–on the same day.”
• Advice for students: “Don’t say no to work just because you don’t understand something. I still live by my college paper’s motto: Tell the truth and don’t be afraid.”

Cat DiStasio, B2B content marketing writer and strategist

• In high school: copy editor and section editor of Making Waves, Mosley High School, Lynn Haven, FL
• What it led to: “During my senior year, the principal sought to censor us student journalists — citing complaints about stories we’d printed about drugs, sex, and mental health — by removing our faculty adviser and replacing her with an English teacher who passed out textbooks on Day 1. We spent the year in heated battles over story topics, editorial cartoons, and op-ed columns. While we managed to publish every issue on time, the legacy of our award-winning student-run newspaper was damaged beyond repair, and the paper eventually folded entirely. That experience solidified my stance as a proponent of the First Amendment and launched my career as a professional writer.” 
• Advice for students: “You are real journalists, and you have the same rights and protections under the First Amendment that professional journalists do. Never stop following the truth. That’s where the best stories and experiences are.”

Christina Lyons, former political journalist turned memoir writer/ghostwriter

• In college: news editor and writer, The Pacifican, University of the Pacific
• Comment: “ ‘You can’t cut that there!’ I routinely screamed at production staff when they aimed their knives where a column of copy they had pasted on a page ran too long. (Yes, pasted.)”
• What it led to: “I covered stories on and off UOP campuses in Stockton, Sacramento, and San Francisco, from the university president’s steep tuition hikes to Law Professor Anthony Kennedy’s nomination to the Supreme Court, luring in readers well beyond the university, Learning I had plans to move east to the D.C. area after graduation, the new editor of the local city newspaper gave me a reference to a publisher on the East Coast, who hired me as an assistant editor of a small-town weekly.”
• Advice to students: “Cover every story you can and cover it well.”

JoBeth McDaniel, nonfiction author/journalist; upcoming memoir centers on Harper Lee 

• In college: news editor, columnist at the Auburn Plainsman at Auburn University
• What it led to: “I joined the staff my freshman year and worked as a paid assistant and an editor. I covered drug busts and federal court cases, wrote obituaries, interviewed the governor twice — all great experience. By my junior year, I was freelance reporting for noncampus daily newspapers and earning good money. After college, I enjoyed four decades of a thriving freelance magazine career.”
• Advice for students: “I always advise anyone in college to work for campus media. The experience is valuable for pretty much any career they choose, even if they don’t go into journalism. And it’s a good idea to alert your journalism professors if college administrators try to censor your work.” 

Melanie Padgett Powers, membership association magazine managing editor, proofreader, profile writer, healthcare writer 

• In college: editor-in-chief, The Franklin weekly, Franklin College, Franklin, IN
• What it led to: “In high school I dreamt of working for Sassy magazine in New York City. But in college, I fell in love with covering hard news for newspapers and worked at my beloved hometown newspaper for a few years. I thought I wanted to be an education reporter, but when I moved to DC, I fell into membership associations and healthcare—simply because the American Public Health Association offered me a job! Who knew that that would lead to a career as a healthcare editor and writer. Somehow I have become obsessed with things like vaccine coverage, interventional radiology, and personalized cancer therapy.” 
• Quote: “One of my college friends is the executive editor at TheStatehouseFile.com, a Franklin College immersive-learning program that places student journalists in the Indiana statehouse to cover politics, culture and sports — and allows other media outlets to republish the articles at no cost. A few years ago, our college president (who was openly gay and married) was arrested for attempting to meet with an underage boy who turned out to be a cop, and the student journalists covered it like true professionals. Pretty dark times for the campus, but the student journalists excelled.”
• Advice for students: “Check out alternatives to traditional media jobs — like membership associations and nonprofit organizations. Ask freelance journalists what type of work has allowed them to embrace their love of journalism but also pays the bills.” 

Michelle Rafter, a Portland, Oregon, business reporter turned ghostwriter and editor

• In college: editor in chief of The Los Angeles Loyolan, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles (then a weekly serving a campus population of about 4,000)
• What it led to: A short stint with a trade magazine publisher followed by a career covering tech, business, and management, first as a staff business reporter at a major daily newspaper, later as a freelance journalist and columnist, and most recently as a ghostwriter of books, research-based reports, and other thought leadership.
• Comment: “We had an office on campus but were self-funded thanks to generous ad revenue, and it allowed us a healthy degree of autonomy—until we published something the administration didn’t like. Then there was hell to pay. Today that paper is run under the auspices of the school’s communications department, a tragic sign of the times. However, papers like those at Cornell and Stanford are doing stellar work, likely because they’re independent.”
• Advice for students: “The late nights and skipped social activities are worth the experience you gain and the colleagues you meet. I’m still close with a handful—one tapped me to ghostwrite a book proposal for the publisher he works for at least 25 years after we graduated!” 

Ellen Ryan, prolific profile, business, and health writer; longtime magazine editor 

• In college: news and op-ed writer, The Cavalier Daily, University of Virginia
• What it led to: “As a government and sociology double major, I had no grand plan. But a couple of op-eds (especially one calling out Reaganomics) became writing samples when job hunting, which helped me win an editorial assistant post at The Washington Woman magazine, starting days after graduation. Which in turn led to interviewing CEOs, congressmen, and nonprofit leaders; holiday parties at the White House; being published on three continents; and getting to direct my own career path.”
• Advice to students: “Save your clips (paper, if possible, and PDFs); I recommend Archive.Today and anything like it. Links disappear, and then you’re stuck.”

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Ellen Ryan is a former student journalist and current professional writer and copy editor. You can learn more about her work on her website and follow her on LinkedIn.