Above: Sierra College’s Emerging Journalist Fellows from left to right: Sierra Mickelson, Alexa Topacio, Luis-Antonio Carreon, Ryder Bouck, and Ethan Yamaguchi. Photo courtesy of Roundhouse.
As we move through spring, we are excited to start seeing some of the in-depth reporting work from our 2023 Emerging Journalist Fellowship students, based at community colleges around California.
Everybody is Entitled to Equity is a set of four stories produced by a team of journalist fellows at Sierra College in Rocklin, California in Spring 2023. The team includes five student journalists: Sierra Mickelson, Alexa Topacio, Luis-Antonio Carreon, Ryder Bouck, and Ethan Yamaguchi (The fellowship is only granted to four students per college, however, with assistance from the Sierra College Foundation, a fifth fellow was also awarded).
Over the course of 16 weeks, fellows consulted with EJF program director John Lightfoot, program mentor Joaquin Alvarado, faculty advisor Jenifer Vernon, Sacramento Bee reporter Marcus J. Smith, and fellows from other community college across the state on their reporting strategies. They chose to focus their reporting on equity at community college, after a realization that “no matter what background, race, sexuality, legal status, one may be, everybody is deserving of the correct support to achieve success.”
View a preview of the topics they reported on, and click through to the Roundhouse to read the stories and learn more about the reporting process.
Everybody is Entitled to Equity
A set of four stories produced by a team of journalist fellows at Sierra College in Spring 2023. In addition, fellows also created an Equity Pamphlet, about available resources on the Rocklin campus.
ABOUT THE EMERGING JOURNALIST FELLOWSHIP
Since 2020, California Humanities Emerging Journalist Fellowship program has provided student journalists at California community colleges financial and professional support to develop new skills and conduct in-depth local reporting projects. Throughout, the program is designed to incorporate the insight and perspective of journalism and the context and inquiry of the humanities, to encourage media literacy and civic engagement, and to provide a springboard for California’s next generation of journalists.
First launched in 2019 as part of the national Democracy and the Informed Citizen initiative with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through the Federation of State Humanities Councils, this program has since grown to include partnerships with community college campuses throughout the state.