UMD journalism department held the first ever Journalism Expo on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022, in the Garden Room to promote journalism studies here on campus and opportunities for the students already committed to the program.

Journalism Department Director, Jennifer Moore introduces the panel of alumni at the Journalism Expo. From left to right on the panel: Natalie Grant, David Cowardin, Aprill Emig and Kim Hyatt.
Photo by. John Hatcher

From start to finish, the event flourished with students, professors and alumni, talking about the professional world of journalism, opportunities for current students and even some lighter topics such as what it meant/means to be a Bulldog journalist.

“[Journalism] is the coolest degree you can get,” alumni Kim Hyatt said while speaking from the panel. She added that being able to go out into the world and just talk to people and tell their stories is what truly matters about being in this field.

Other alumni such as Natalie Grant, David Cowardin and Aprill Emig also agreed that their journalism degree from UMD helped prepare them for the real world, whether their career paths actually followed the program or not.

“I think from a student perspective, to hear what alumni are doing and how they've used their degrees in various ways… it’s just so great,” Journalism Department Director and expo coordinator, Jennifer Moore said.

Natalie Grant was able to recall getting to meet so many people in the department that helped her grow throughout her college experience. Getting to have variety and explore the different journalistic mediums played an important role in Grant getting into the workforce where she was able to apply the skills she learned in school.

“We have such great dedicated alumni, they make my job easy because I asked them to come and speak and they're like, ‘when?” Moore said.

Although the expo felt like a time for fun and games where journalists from all around got to enjoy themselves and mingle, Moore organized the event to get students talking about their futures and the future of the journalistic art form.

“I wanted to create an opportunity to bring students together with not only their journalism professors but also with all of the media community,” Moore said.

Throughout the expo, journalism students were able to talk with various representatives from local media outlets about what their futures might look like in this field.
Photo by. John Hatcher

Representatives from The Duluth News Tribune, Perfect Duluth Day, The Pine Knot, Northern News Now, Fox 21 and other prominent local journalism outlets filled the Garden Room, bringing their publications and signup sheets to recruit young journalism interns and workers for their companies

“[These news outlets] meet and hire our students either for interns, or part-time or full-time jobs,” Moore said. “I’ve really appreciated over the years getting to know all the folks who work in the Twin Ports area and thought it would be nice to bring us all together to help build community.”

The event was also meant to promote the Journalism department in general here at UMD — both the major and the minor. As of 2021, there were only 47 reported students who had declared journalism as their major.

But not all hope is lost! With such a huge turnout, it was apparent that there are still people out there who show interest in the journalism world, whether through print writing, digital designing, or broadcast journalism. There is still a calling for it, it just takes a certain student to answer it.

“We have more students who are coming to UMD to study journalism, where it seems like when I started, students sort of stumbled into the journalism program and discovered it maybe when they [were a] sophomore or junior,” Moore said. “Now, we have students who are coming in as first-year students and want to do journalism here at UMD.”

Many alumni agreed that Duluth is the right place to pursue a journalism degree for students interested in any of those forms. With the amount of history, outdoorsiness, arts and sports that Duluth holds, “[there are] no shortage of stories,” Hyatt said.

The journalism program isn’t just for those students who are looking for a career in the field or for students dying to graduate with a full journalism degree. There are lots of different fields of study that could use good writers or storytellers and that is where the journalism minor could be a great option for students in other colleges.

“I completely understand that every student who comes through our program, either as a major or minor doesn't necessarily go get a journalism job, but the skills that they learn that are transferable to all different kinds of jobs,” Moore said.

Steven Goodspeed, the news director of Fox 21, finished off the expo and brought up the point that a degree program can only teach you so much. You can learn how to edit and how to craft a coherent article, but they can’t teach students how to be creative or how to think clearly which are skills that real-world companies look for in the hiring process.

Moore hopes students get both those practical run-of-the-mill journalism practices and the conceptual theoretical concepts from the program so they know how to take these skills and apply them in their own creative way.

She also strives to create a program where there is a sense of community and joy that comes from engaging in this type of study.

“I'm just hoping to create a space for our journalism students to build community and to enjoy UMD while they're here, and to get to know each other,” Moore said. “I think I'm probably trying to create a college experience that I didn't have.”

UMD Journalism Department holds the first Journalism Expo