Student journalism can sometimes seem ordinary. Another guest lecturer, another Student Union debate about funding minutia. Sometimes, Student Life is … just student life.
But there are times when the macrocosm hits home, and suddenly the world’s problems come to campus.
Whether the moment is the March 2020 arrival of a highly contagious new virus or the report of an October 2023 terrorist attack, the challenge for student journalists is to make sense of major news while still making it to class on time.
With neither a journalism school nor a university-sponsored student news outlet, WashU has had an independent student run-newspaper for 148 years. Student Life brings together students from all majors to learn how to research thoroughly and report evenly while giving them the opportunity to dig deep, take criticism and consider their roles in the wider community.
Data or it didn’t happen
Emma Baker, AB ’21, MS ’22, fully intended to focus on humanities as an English major in Arts & Sciences. After less than a week on campus, she made her way to the Student Life offices in the Danforth University Center.
“By the end of my first semester, I was hooked,” she says. “I found my spot, and it lasted my entire time on campus.” Baker worked her way up from a news reporter as a first-year student to editor-in-chief in 2019.
Student Life opened doors to an internship at St. Louis Public Radio, introducing Baker to the concept of data journalism — how data and technology can influence traditional reporting. Her curiosity piqued, she dipped her toes into computer programming and eventually added a master’s in computer science.
Data analysis turned out to be instrumental in the defining story of Baker’s tenure as editor-in-chief. When COVID-19 struck in March 2020, unprecedented numbers flew around — infections, hospitalizations, surges, even deaths.
“COVID was a prime example of a global story becoming local and impacting everyone in a way that felt unique,” Baker says. “We knew this was a news moment, but all we could do was follow the story. I like to think we held our own.”
‘‘Student Life and my mentors there taught me lessons I could not have learned in any class. I consider Student Life my primary major and global studies my secondary major.”
Nina Giraldo, AB ’25
Not just theoretical
Nina Giraldo, AB ’25, joined Student Life her first year at WashU and was excited to have a meaningful role. She knew the work would be substantive as she was assigned a story about WashU’s Consortium for Clean Coal Utilization her first semester.
“At the time, I didn’t know what the clean coal movement was or the backlash that existed,” Giraldo says. “I didn’t have to read any of it out of a textbook because I was interviewing professors spearheading the research. That was an ‘aha’ moment. I saw how journalism could open my eyes to what was going on where I was living and studying.”
Two years later, Giraldo was co-editor-in-chief and a global studies major when she witnessed her community grappling with antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. In response, she started collecting personal stories.
“It was hard to write about something so personal to your community,” she says. “But it was powerful to realize that if I didn’t get these stories and write them down, no one would ever know about them.”
This was the crux of student journalism for Giraldo: finding connections and meaning in the hyperlocal. “There’s nothing I can do as a student about wars being fought on the other side of the world, but there is something I can do to help us understand each other,” she says.
A little help from their friends
Navigating real-life stories isn’t easy. Thankfully, Student Life journalists benefit from the mentorship of the 15-member Washington University Student Media Inc., advisory board. The group includes Student Life alumni like Jonathan Greenberger, AB ’05, recently named global editor-in-chief at Politico, and Laura Meckler, AB ’90, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and national education writer at the Washington Post.
“I got all the help in the world when I was applying to my first internships.”
Emma Baker, on on added advantage to Student Life’s advisory board
WashU’s administration has no direct control over the newspaper, which remains independently run. The advisory board counsels Student Life staff on business matters like budgeting and revenue generation. It also provides essential support and training.
Baker says the advisory board is a gift. “I got all the help in the world when I was applying to my first internships,” she says. Now, Baker gets to pay it forward as a board member. “I love being a data point, and I love being part of the exchange,” she says. “The things that were relevant to me as a student — how to cover important pieces, what to pursue, how to make the newsroom a fun, happy and productive place to be — take on a different significance now as a member of the board.”
Previous editors-in-chief have gone on to pursue graduate degrees in medicine and law. Others have built careers in politics and graphic design. And some, like Baker and Giraldo, are forging careers in journalism.
Baker now works from San Francisco on the New York Times’ interactive news team, which contributes data-driven tools that enhance traditional reporting. “When I was an intern at St. Louis Public Radio, I was entrenched in what it means to use data as a pillar of reporting,” she says. “Now, news organizations around the world are thinking about technology and how to make news more accessible.”
Giraldo, who recently completed an internship with the Baltimore Banner, is now a New York City-based CNN news associate rotating across teams at cnn.com. Being on the live story rotation has helped her build on skills she gained at Student Life. “National news is its own beast,” she says. “The timetable is just a matter of seconds and minutes. It’s such a different framework, but it’s exciting.”
Both Giraldo and Baker look back at their time as student journalists as invaluable. “Student Life and my mentors there taught me lessons I could not have learned in any class,” Giraldo says. “I consider Student Life my primary major and global studies my secondary major.”
