Please take a moment to read this posting from George Daniels at the University of Alabama on his experience at the Ted Scripps Leadership Institute:

The Scripps experience was just what I needed going into my first full school year as the campus chapter co-adviser here at the University of Alabama.  I’ve been so focused on the logistics of getting the chapter off and running that I missed the “bigger picture.”

Scripps gave me a “big picture” view of what we do at the local level. That’s not to say that making sure we have by-laws and programs planned and fliers posted aren’t important tasks.  But, the impact that we should be having in our area is not nearly where it could be. When you talk with other chapters at an event like the Scripps Leadership Institute, you see that.

The Scripps Institute also gave me a “big picture” view of SPJ at a national level. In talking with other chapter leaders from as far away as Alaska, I could see much more clearly the nationwide challenge we have in areas of ethics, freedom of information, diversity and journalism professional development.

Best of all, I came back with some great ideas to implement locally when the school year starts. In particular, I picked up a strategy for involving freshmen officers on the executive committee. The members of the “SPJ street team”  will bring their enthusiasm to the campus group while also working the streets to recruit other students to get involved. At the same time, they’re able to be groomed to be officers in future years. I hope to present the “street team” concept to my chapter officers as we meet this month.

You can read more about my Scripps experience in the posting on my
BAMAPRODUCER web log.

This entry was posted by Holly Fisher on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 3:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.