J-School at San Antonio College: a formula for success

La Prensa de San Antonio.- In the heart of San Antonio, a small community college program produces Pulitzer Prize winners (Rodolfo Gonzalez and Ron Cortes) and dedicated and impassioned journalists, photographers and communications professionals.

The extraordinary program, affectionately known as the “J-School” by students, is an integral part of the media communications department at San Antonio College.

The program publishes a newspaper, The Ranger; a magazine, The Fourth Write; and The Ranger Online.Each regularly wins awards from the Associated Collegiate Press, the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.

The Ranger was inducted in to the Hall of Fame of the ACP in 1993, and with The Ranger Online, won 12 Pacemaker awards since the 1970’s.

The Pacemaker, considered by many to be the Pulitzer Prize for student journalism in the country, underscores the quality of the program and the breadth of opportunities available to SAC’s J-School students.

“We don’t do pretend stories,” Marianne Odom, chair of the department of media communications at SAC, said.
A student newspaper that serves the community

A quick look at The Ranger, the newspaper that serves the entire district of the Alamo Colleges and surrounding communities, illustrates that fact. It is the centerpiece of the J-school’s formula for success because students staff the award-winning paper and learn to cover everything professional journalists do, including crime, board meetings, policy issues, controversies and even the police blotter.

“Nothing is off limits as long as it is journalistically defensible,” Odom explains.

“Producing the paper is the center of our mission – it gives the students experience and clips to show in all areas.”
Putting what they learn into action is a huge part of the program. “The Ranger is the lab project for the journalism and photography classes. The classes teach the skill, and the work on the newspaper teaches the how,” Odom said.

A private school experience at community college rates. Thanks to the full support of San Antonio College, The Ranger boasts four faculty advisors with media experience and professional connections – advisors who constantly work one-on-one with the students, teaching them proper writing technique, interviewing skills, and how to think on their feet.

That’s a good thing, because as Odom explains, “The Ranger is read regularly in every newsroom in town.”

The individual attention students get in this program from experienced faculty and even producing journalists is a rare occurrence at this level of study, even at more expensive institutions of higher education, and part of the reason students in this program excel in the real world.

“The Journalism program at SAC is the real deal,” Kristina Lindberg, former student and editor of The Ranger, said. “You learn so much because of the hands-on experience in the diverse newsroom, where everyone is interested and passionate about the work.”

Lindberg, recently an assistant editor for two weekly newspapers in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, now works as a communications professional for a national home healthcare agency.

The passion for real, quality journalism is infectious. Step into the newsroom at SAC, and you can feel the buzz. No one complains much about the long hours, because the students and professors love what they are doing and understand the importance of their respective contributions.

“The number one job of the press is to keep an eye on the government – our system cannot survive without the watchdog role of the press – this is what journalism is all about,” Odom said.

That same feeling, an undercurrent of passion and dedication to outstanding journalism, as well as a deep understanding of the Fourth Estate, shines through in younger, current students, too.

Sophomore Zahra Farah, 18, is managing editor of The Ranger this year, but recalls the first time she was sent out “on an assignment.”
“My first story was a little intimidating,” she said. “I had to interview department heads of history, political science and humanities, and I was worried about asking the right questions and getting it all done fast enough,” she added.

The results of her first effort paid off in the form of an informative, beautifully polished and published article in The Ranger. Zahrah relished seeing her name in print, but what she learned as she continued to write and publish at San Antonio College was much more profound.

A little later in her career, Zahrah was assigned to cover a tragedy, the deaths of two fellow students trying to do a good deed. “I learned tragedy is more than just a graf (paragraph) in a newspaper,” she said.

Students learn skills to do well in any field
While the main job of the J-school is to teach students the best way to tell a story, the SAC program insists on accuracy and objectivity, and ultimately teaches its students to learn how to connect the dots.

“Journalism is more than just a profession; it’s a way of thinking, of conducting yourself ethically and learning to gather information accurately. What students learn here will help them in every field, and students who go through the entire program do very, very well wherever they go,” Odom said.

The media communications department at SAC includes journalism and photography, radio-television-film and digital design.

“All our programs have a synergy. There are obvious crossovers that benefit the students,” Odom said.

Dr. Robert Ziegler, president of San Antonio College, says it best, “The College is a value because we provide an opportunity, higher education at an incredible and affordable cost. SAC is the place to start for anyone interested in journalism – it’s more than a great springboard – I think we are a secret.”

For more information about media communications at San Antonio College, go to the Web site at http://www.alamo.edu/sac/j-p/default.html or visit The Ranger Online at http://www.theranger.org/