SJSU top recruiter to internship program
07.15.05
By Laine Norton
Special to freedomforum.org
In the 15-year history of Chips Quinn Scholars Program, no college has provided more students than San Jose State University. Thirty-five Scholars, including six in 2005, have come from SJSU.
Six years ago, the Chips Quinn internship program pushed to involve more campuses and shared information with more newspaper advisers nationwide, including those at SJSU who began to promote the experience to their students.
Program Director Karen Catone credits the work of the newspaper advisers and the students who have participated in the program. "The students who work on the campus newspaper, the Spartan Daily, and its advisers have this remarkable internal network. They do a good job of sharing information about our program with incoming students."
SJSU is one of 241 schools that have sent 953 students to the program since its beginning in 1991. The program provides internships at daily newspaper newsrooms and scholarships to participating students.
Scholars from SJSU attribute the large number of Spartan interns to a strong journalism program at the school and recruiting by Chips Quinn alums and teachers.
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| Mark Cornejo |
Mark Cornejo, a Summer 2005 intern and SJSU student, said professors emphasize the importance of being a Chips Quinn Scholar. "They have heard all of the alums of the program come back with similar stories to the one I have. They know it has meant something special to everyone who has gone through it."
Cornejo listened as his professors talked about the program. As they talked, he realized the advantage in having his resume considered by the newspaper editors who participate in Chips Quinn, and he applied.
"With no exaggeration, Chips Quinn has been one of the best experiences in my life," said Cornejo, an intern at The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, Calif. "Everyone has a few moments in their life (which signal that) they won’t be the same after they’re over. That was my experience at the (Chips Quinn Scholars) orientation. I knew … that I would not be the same person who showed up at the airport in San Jose once it was all over. The people I have met (at orientation) have truly impacted my life."
Having the opportunity to be a Scholar with other SJSU students made it that much more significant, Cornejo said.
"When I go back next semester, I get to remember all of the great times I had at my orientation and reminisce about them with close friends who were there as well. … It's a great feeling to know that these people will be an integral part of my life for some time to come," he said.
Alums of both SJSU and the Chips Quinn Scholars program make it a point to return to campus to tell others about their experiences and encourage them to apply, Catone said. "They truly support one another."
Richard Craig, assistant professor in SJSU’s school of Journalism and Mass Communication, has seen the program’s benefits.
"When our students come back from the program and tell their peers about their experiences, it naturally piques the peers' interest. It's become something passed from one generation of students on to another," he said. "The program seems to infuse them with a new excitement for journalism."
Students also see long-term benefits of participating. Eighteen Scholars from SJSU are working full time in daily newspaper newsrooms.
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| Tammy Krikorian |
The program was recommended to Tammy Krikorian, reporter at the Yuma (Ariz.) Daily Sun, by a SJSU and Chips Quinn alum. Krikorian’s previous internship with a newspaper didn’t provide the guidance she wanted. She became a Scholar in Summer 2004 and embraced the training and resources — including coaching — that come with the program.
"You always have someone you can call for questions if you’re not getting the support you need at your internship paper," she said.
After her Chips Quinn experience, Krikorian was so impressed with the valuable networking opportunities that she shared news of the program with the staff of the SJSU newspaper.
"You’re always going to be a Chips Quinn Scholar. There is a network of alumni that helps each other … people to talk to going through similar things," she said.
Cornejo attributes the large number of SJSU students in the Chips Quinn program to the university’s journalism program, which he says prepares students well.
To earn a journalism degree, SJSU students must participate in a professional internship. The purpose, according to the university’s Web site, is to "learn by doing" and get a hands-on look at a career in journalism.
"Editors ultimately select whom they would like to host as Chips Quinn Scholars in their newsrooms," Catone said. "That SJSU students are selected more often than not suggests that they are well trained and possess the skills editors seek."
Will SJSU continue to lead the stats?
"My hope is to be one of those alums who get more Scholars into the program. I figure, like I guess many other alums figure, that it’s the least I could do for the program," Cornejo said.
He hopes this serves as an example to Scholars across the country.
"Tell your professors about the program and what it has done for you — leave nothing out — and don’t hesitate to push fellow students into the program. We know that they will thank us for it because we have thanked the people who pushed us into it."
Laine Norton, a University of Nebraska student, is a Summer 2005 intern at the Freedom Forum in Arlington, Va.