Editors Note: Student Stories is a project designed to showcase stories, events, clubs, and opinions authored by students in Santa Cruz County. This is offered through our Lookout in the Classroom program where students receive free access to all of our content as well as workshops and curriculum for local educators. Learn more here.
I’m a second-year student majoring in Literature at UC Santa Cruz and I’ve been interning at Lookout for about three months. I’ve always loved the worlds of imagination and possibility that literature can open up; real stories have a similar revelatory power that uncovers the connections and power in community.
I was drawn to the position because though I’m not 100% sure what I want to do after graduation, I am interested in both education and publishing, and being Lookout’s Educational Programs Assistant seemed like the perfect marriage between the two, an opportunity to simultaneously work with published editorial projects and effective teaching materials.
Once I got into the office, that early excitement didn’t fade. The office atmosphere is professional yet friendly and collaborative. Good mornings or afternoons punctuate each person’s entry, be it another intern or someone who’s been with Lookout since the beginning.
I’ve been lucky enough that my schedule has allowed me to attend several Lookout events. In fact, what largely defined my first week was manning the check-in desk and chatting with the Lookout team at a film screening hosted by Lookout and CalMatters of “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink” at the Del Mar Theatre that highlighted the decline of local independent news. The post-screening panel presented lively debate about potential ways forward and I left feeling proud and lucky to be a part of (even for a little bit) such a strong and driven local news organization. Snagging a leftover free bag of popcorn on the way out, I reflected that it was not a bad end to the first week at all.
Under the tutelage of Jamie Garfield, Lookout’s Director of Student & Community Engagement, I’ve worked on various projects, including a media literacy plan aimed to help high school students critically read and interpret news stories, weekly newsletters to educators, educator outreach, and finding other helpful resources for the classroom.
One of the projects I’m really loving is Lookout’s Journalism Scholarship, which is now live, and open to submissions from any high school student in Santa Cruz County. It’s a great learning opportunity and incentive for any aspiring writers/journalists, with the authors of the top three winning stories receiving $500 each and the top ten getting published on Lookout’s site!
We already have a handful of classroom visits in January and February planned, and I’m looking forward to seeing what students are doing with it and hearing about which “unsung hero” they’re highlighting with their stories. I’m excited to continue working at Lookout to engage the students of Santa Cruz County with local news and issues, helping to shape a well-informed future generation.
Ava Salinas is a student at UC Santa Cruz and an intern at Lookout Santa Cruz