Everyone who has thought about entering the work force and pursuing a professional career has likely heard the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”
So is there any truth to the age-old tagline that has reached proverbial status? Should remarkably intelligent students who have not yet met any professionals in their field start to panic as they approach graduation?
Through the lens of a unique program that coordinates U student journalists with real world professional reporters, the answer certainly appears to be two-pronged.
The Daily Utah Chronicle has had a solid connection in the past few years with the staff of The Salt Lake Tribune. These experts in the field of journalism have offered their time and services free-of-charge to help emerging reporters-some of whom will one day work alongside their current trainers.
At The Chronicle, our mentors are people who have been down the same path as current students-studying for their degree while devoting their efforts to the school newspaper for little reimbursement.
They are people who have been field-tested in the daily grind of a city paper. They are people who have become household names around the state by writing hard-hitting, investigative news stories for the most circulated newspaper in Utah. They are our mentors-and they deliver.
In order to maintain a relationship with professionals, it seems logical that one would have to constantly seek out their assistance, but not in this case. Whether just peeking in on our daily task of putting out an issue of The Chronicle or ripping stories apart with constructive criticism, these mentors come to us.
To inch back toward the original question, will this make it easier for current student journalists to begin a career? Time will tell.
But until then, it seems this proverb is not so black and white.
It is not just who you know, nor just what you know. In order to gain knowledge, one has to learn from those who possess it.
Hands-on, applied training is always the best method to master a trade. It bucks the trend college students have often grown to accept through upward of 17 years in classrooms studying abstract ideas. By gaining an on-the-job mentor, students can begin to apply those classroom-instilled ideas to real-world situations.
The U’s professors are often experts in their specialized fields who have mastered the material at hand, but by knowing and using mentors who currently work in the field, students can see what it takes to succeed in the real world-right now.
In reality, it’s not only the services offered by Tribune staffers that helps student journalists at the U. It’s the message they impart and their ability to do so with authority. It’s the fact that Chronicle writers can collaborate with talented reporters whose names they can see the next day on the front page of the biggest city paper in Utah.
A special thanks goes out to the various Tribune mentors who sacrifice their time for emerging journalists, including-but certainly not limited to-Connie Coyne, Matt Canham, Matthew LaPlante, Nate Carlisle, Jennifer Sanchez, Josh Awtry, Derek Jensen, Heather May and David Teigland.
And another self-indulgent paragraph goes to thank just a couple of my personal mentors-Dan Harrie and Robert Gehrke.
For those aspiring student-journalists interested in getting involved with The Chronicle in this one-of-a-kind program, shoot an e-mail over to:
