St. Norbert Times

Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: News

The St. Norbert Times has organized and hosted the first annual journalism conference for college and university students all over the Midwest. The event was held on April 25 and 26 on the St. Norbert Campus and the local SC Grand Banquet Hall. Registration on Saturday morning was followed by a lunch in Cofrin 15, where the approximately 30 attendees had a chance to introduce themselves and look over the detailed program of the conference. Saturday afternoon was spent in three workshops that each participant could select from an array of eight. Speakers included George Stanley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Scott Milfred from the Wisconsin State Journal, and Thomas Kunkel, SNC president and former employee at renowned publications such as the Miami Herald and the New York Times.

On Saturday night, attendees and presenters then gathered at the SC Grand for a Banquet dinner and to listen to keynote speaker Craig Gilbert, Washington bureau chief and political reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Gilbert, who recently interviewed president Barack Obama in the White House, spoke about his experiences reporting from the campaign trail and then held an informal Q/A session with the audience.

Sunday morning continued the conference with breakfast and another selection of three workshops, featuring Karen Lincoln Michel and Terry Anderson from the Green Bay Press Gazette and St. Norbert Times editor Adi Redzic, who spoke on newspaper management. Redzic hopes that this year's conference will inspire a tradition for years to come: "The conference was created to develop collegiality, insightful lessons about writing, editing, and business, and practical insights about all facets of producing a revolutionary student newspaper," he says.

Sunday morning ended with a resume critique by Jerry Donahue, director of Career Services. The external attendees collectively agreed that they would recommend the conference to their colleagues at their home schools. In reflecting on her conference experience, Kim Daugherty from UW Sheboygan says, "We hope that your school will have another Journalism Conference next year, because we'd love to visit the campus again. The St. Norbert students we met were genuine, generous, and enthusiastic about sharing ideas and learning from each other. Beyond the journalism skills and ideas I was able to acquire in the workshops, I got a taste of the Norbertine spirit, and gained an appreciation for the mission of the St. Norbert institution."

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