UW-Superior students, Promethean editors attend Associated Collegiate Press Mega Workshop

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Over the summer, two editorial leaders from the Promethean student newspaper from the University of Wisconsin-Superior had the opportunity to make connections with other college media journalists from throughout the country at the annual Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) Mega Workshop held at the University of Minnesota July 18 to 21.

News editor Drew Kerner was joined by sports editor Isaiah Wiita as they learned from professionals in the field on the training tracks they chose. Kerner, a senior double-major in multimedia journalism and theatre digital filmmaking from Radisson, Wisconsin, participated in the broadcast journalism track and Wiita, a senior multimedia journalism major with a sports management minor from Maple, Wisconsin, took part in the sports journalism track. They were joined by Promethean student advisor Tom Hansen who attended the advisors training sessions.

For Hansen, a UWS '89 graduate, it was a great opportunity for the students to immerse themselves into their chosen career field and return to campus to share with the Promethean staff.

"The opportunities Drew and Isaiah had were amazing," said Hansen. "They experienced what it is like to work in a top 20 media market for a few days and cover pro sports teams in Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer. I really appreciated learning more about other college journalism media operations at other universities and colleges around the country and compare how other advisors' go about the important work of training future journalists."

The ACP summer workshop trained nearly 200 student journalists and advisors from around the country. In addition, attendees also heard from guest keynote speakers such as Ailsa Chang from National Public Radio and host of "All Things Considered"and Astead W. Herndon, national politics reporter for the New York Times and a political analyst for CNN.

For Kerner and Wiita, who both also work for FOX 21 in Duluth, the ACP also provided networking and the opportunity to see how TV stations in the Twin Cities operate.

"I had a blast attending the ACP conference," said Kerner. "I was split into the broadcast track and was able to connect with news professionals from both KSTP 5 Eyewitness News and Kare11 to see more behind the scenes of a newsroom. Since I already have prior experience in both local professional and our own collegiate newsroom, it was impressive to see how the top markets operated."

The time with two major stations also brought perspective to the shared struggles of the media industry.

"While sitting in on the meetings, it was fascinating to watch the producers share story ideas and their multiple copies of developments for the station's multiple shows," said Kerner. "What stood out was that even in the large scale the newsrooms, they were unable to cover it all and even discussed how to juggle local vs. national importance.

"At a core it comes down to the staff and time available. But as what was kind of hinted around the weekend, it comes down also to the people who chose to be involved or up to date with the local papers, radio, and broadcast news outlets."

The UWS group also connected with two recent UWS alumni on the journalism trip. They met with Rachel Prost, a former Promethean editor and online editor along with Sam Moscatelli while on the Minneapolis campus.

"The ACP conference was a wonderful experience that helped me learn new skills that I will be able to apply to my future career in journalism and with the Promethean," said Wiita. "Being able to attend this conference has shown me the importance of local news and journalism in a large market as well as a small one. News is an important aspect of our community, and it is important to have ethical journalist to tell the stories that happen within their community."

The Promethean, now 104 years-old, was named the co-Program of the Year by UWS Student Involvement for the 2023-24 academic year. In addition to publishing monthly print editions during the school year, the student staff also produced Promethean TV newscasts and Promethean Podcasts last school year.