The perfect, no-cost gift for your graduating seniors

Plus Trump speaks at Alabama, how J-schools can learn from law schools' Ai practices, and a ... sperm race??

Author

Barbara Allen
May 04, 2025

Ahmet Kurt // Unsplash

If you’re facing yet another semester of wondering what meaningful but cost-effective gift you could possibly get your seniors for graduation, I have just the solution!

The Early Career Guide To Newsroom Success, produced by Rachel Lobdell, is less about journalistic skills (we know you taught them everything they need to know) and more about thriving in a professional environment. 

The guide covers things like communicating with managers, relationship building, pitching projects and receiving feedback, to name just a few.

Lobdell writes about the guide, “Managers are more time constrained than ever, and mentoring and coaching can naturally take a back seat. I partnered with the Reynolds Journalism Institute to research and report a guide for entry level journalists to improve their workplace skills, nurture important relationships, and put their best foot forward for coveted assignments and promotions.” 

And best of all, it’s available for the low, low price of absolutely nothing.

So if you’ve been thinking creatively about a way to honor your departing seniors, might I humbly suggest sending them a thoughtful note of congratulations and this link. 

They — and their future managers — will thank you for it.

FYI

I was fascinated by this story about law schools increasingly emphasizing Ai in their curriculum. Some schools have added multiple Ai courses; another requires that law students pass a certification course before they can graduate. One professor reported using an Ai tool at the end of lectures to assess students’ comprehension of that day’s lesson.

If, like me, you are a fan of microcrendentials and their possibilities, here’s some biased research to help make your case. 😂

Not great. ICE Expands Student Deportation Powers (Inside Higher Ed)

A good follow-up on the winners of the SPJ SIN contest from The Nutgraf, a newsletter for student journalists.

You hate to see the headline, you love to see the reporting. More Florida Colleges Sign ICE Agreements:

FIU interim president Jeanette Nuñez, the former lieutenant governor under DeSantis, also defended the deal, telling the Faculty Senate the ICE agreement follows similar arrangements “at almost all of the state universities and many other universities across the country.”

Immigration experts have told Inside Higher Ed they are unfamiliar with such agreements at universities in other states.

Is it a journalist’s job to let people know their government owes them money? Detroit’s Outlier Media thought so. They found literally millions in cash owed to homeowners — and little effort on the part of the government to return it:

… Outlier Media teamed up with local nonprofits and spent months using public records to fuel an outreach campaign that made thousands of calls to people who were owed money. 

By the time the filing deadline arrived, we’d reached 481 people who were collectively owed almost $5.9 million. We gave them information they needed to start their claims and recorded their stories along the way.

Localize this

A great summer/fall project. Is your university impacted? As ‘bot’ students continue to flood in, community colleges struggle to respond (Hechinger Report)

Student media stars

President Donald Trump spoke at a University of Alabama commencement event on Thursday, and the school’s Crimson White was all over it:

Opportunities and resources

The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) offers free memberships to student journalists and invites them to attend its virtual conference, ASBPEvolve: The Biggest B2B Editorial Summit, May 28-30. Students can register for free through May 26.

College Media Association is offering a three-part advanced training in student media business operations. “Getting Down to Business” sessions will be at 5 p.m. Eastern on three consecutive Tuesdays in May: May 13, 20 and 27. Cost: $150 for members and $300 for non-members. Register before May 7.

The Student Press Law Center has opened nominations for two awards that come with $2,000 cash prizes that are split between students and their programs.

  • The Reveille Seven Courage in Student Journalism Award “recognizes student journalists who have demonstrated exceptional determination and support for student press freedom, despite resistance or difficult circumstances.” Apply by June 30.

  • The Student Freedom of Information Award “recognizes a student journalist or team of journalists for outstanding and tenacious use of public records.” Apply by June 30.

One piece I loved

I’m sure somewhere in our midst there’s an entire course being taught on photojournalism from the Vietnam War, but if that’s not on your campus, dive into this New York Times photo essay and history about the power and lasting impact of the photographs of that era. Needless to say, some of the images are disturbing.

One last thing

Feedback

If you enjoyed this issue of the College Journalism Newsletter, it might be in part because I didn’t include a paywall and you were able to read it in its entirety. I hope you can see the value in my work and will consider upgrading to a paid subscription if you don’t already have one. Thank you for your support!