Mizzou NAHJ chapter wins Chapter of the Year at national conference

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July 31, 2024

The University of Missouri's National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) chapter recently won Chapter of the Year at NAHJ's annual conference and expo held in Hollywood, California.

Under the guidance of Missouri School of Journalism faculty advisor Sebastián Martínez Valdivia, Missouri NAHJ has seen great success since relaunching in 2023. This year, Mizzou's chapter competed against fellow chapters at the University of Arkansas and Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo.

"In coming together with peers to help each other succeed while strengthening connections with Spanish-speaking communities, students are demonstrating that the Missouri Method of learning by doing is not confined to our classrooms and professional newsrooms," said David Kurpius, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism. "This recognition is a testament to the passion these students bring to every part of their academic careers, a passion that the communities they engage with in mid-Missouri recognize and appreciate."

For Tadeo Ruiz, a rising senior and outgoing co-president of the chapter ­- a title he shares with fellow senior Sophie Rentschler - the chapter is special in that it encourages students to build bridges beyond the campus community by becoming more engaged with Latinx populations in and outside of Columbia.

"We wanted to create programs that would allow us to connect with our local community and build a lasting impact," Ruiz said. "Not just with students, but more generally with the Hispanic communities that exist here."

To make those connections, NAHJ collaborated with Martínez' professional network in Kansas City to steward projects in line with the chapter's mission. For example, De Veras, a project that won the Reynolds Journalism Institute's Student Innovation Competition last year and now partners with independent radio station KOPN-FM to deliver bilingual news to Missouri's Latinx communities, was folded into NAHJ to ensure it would continue under new leadership once its founders had graduated.

"For some students, this is their first experience in a predominantly white space," Martínez said. "Having this community of people who have had similar experiences can be huge. It can help you form a social network and a kind of support group for people going through similar stuff. You're also getting to meet people who have been at Mizzou for a couple of years and can show you the ropes."

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