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Syracuse Journalism Lab Graduates Inaugural Class Syracuse Journalism Lab Graduates Inaugural Class

This new program promoted the importance of increasing diversity in media.

By Tyler Schiff

Junior Jaden Davis communicates with his production team during a live show. Students were in charge of recreating their own newsrooms as a part of the program.
© 2022 Tyler Schiff

TYLER SCHIFF: The Syracuse Journalism Lab recently graduated their first class of students from the Institute of Technology at Central Syracuse. This 6-month-long program was put in place at the local high school to increase diversity in the newsroom

TYLER SCHIFF: Syracuse’s new wave of student journalists are changing the industry. Media communications teacher Jefferey Newell says that the lab was one of the best things to ever happen at ITC as his students were able to learn about the importance of underrepresentation in media and gain confidence in their own abilities.

JEFFEREY NEWELL: The kids from Syracuse have the best voices and the best stories out of any I’ve heard and the best vision and some of the most creative stories from some of the most creative perspectives

TYLER SCHIFF: The students at ITC were also able to work with professional anchors in the area. Junior Jaden Davis says that he’s unsure about exactly what he wants to do in the future but like Newell, he wants Syracuse voices to be heard

JADEN DAVIS: I think I’d rather write and maybe get into the field and do interviews and maybe sometimes be on camera but mainly write the stories and make sure they get out there

TYLER SCHIFF: More on the Syracuse Journalism Lab can be found at Syracuse.com. That’s the story in Syracuse, Tyler Schiff, N-C-C News

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The Syracuse Journalism Lab’s first graduating class presented their final projects on Feb. 18, 2022, at Salt City Market. For the past six months, the Lab worked with students at the Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central to inspire the next generation of budding journalists.

The collaboration between the two parties was fueled by one common goal — to learn and overcome underrepresentation by increasing diversity within the world of media. Media communications teacher at ITC, Jefferey Newell, said the experience as life-changing.

“The whole thing was amazing,” Newell said. “I loved seeing my students receive so much positive reinforcement from the anchors and reporters that they look up to.”

ITC welcomed many guest speakers to their campus throughout the program, including Buffalo reporter Camalot Todd and Natasha Alford, who currently works for theGrio. Junior Jaden Davis said that working with the established professionals was stressful, but he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I loved working with everyone there,” Davis said. “It was awesome to work with people who based their work off of focusing on smaller minorities and real, everyday people.”

Davis said that one of his favorite experiences was being a reporter. He said that by going out and interviewing people, he learned new things — even about some of his closest friends.

“It was interesting to go into depth about my friend’s Vietnamese heritage,” Davis said. “He told me stories of how his parents had to immigrate to the United States and what it was like for him growing up. These are the stories that really matter.”

Visibly emotional at the graduation, Newell said he was impressed by everyone’s work. He’s happy that the Lab gave his students invaluable information about the journalism industry at such a young age and taught them the importance of hard work.

“Everything that we as teachers didn’t get in high school, we tried to give it to them during this program. I want them to be career and college ready even if they’re not interested in media, and I think we achieved that,” Newell said.

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