As the Christmas weekend draws near, I can’t help but reflect on this time last year. As a senior at my university, I still had one final semester to survive, and average college tenure does not come with a lot of extra money at hand. So rather than asking my parents for an iPod or designer clothes last Christmas, I asked them for a renewal check to continue my membership with SPJ.

Why? Because I could see the greater value in the professional resources and opportunities SPJ could provide me. As the student chapter president at Ole Miss, the experiences I gained allowed me to not only further enhance my writing skills, but also my leadership, research, graphic design and organization skills. I would need all of these attributes for my future career in public relations and media work.

But all the accomplishments during my collegiate career were minor in comparison for the plans SPJ still had in store for me. Within a month of graduating with my bachelor’s degree last May, I received a dream job offer as the Society’s communications coordinator, a post-graduate internship for media, marketing and public relations efforts.

My job has helped me strengthen my writing, marketing, social media and media relations techniques in both broad and specific ways where average internships are often very limited. I’ve discovered fun, innovative ways to expand my creative skills. SPJ has also introduced me to the wonderful culture that is Indianapolis and allowed me to travel to Las Vegas for the 2010 Convention and National Journalism Conference.

Today, I know of May 2010 journalism and PR graduates who have not found a job. Because of that, I feel blessed and I hope you take away this one lesson: We make our own opportunities in life, and when we believe in them, they often have a way of taking us further than we truly imagined. SPJ is doing that for me.

It’s been an incredible honor to serve the 8,000-strong membership of SPJ over the past few months. Thank you, members and fellow journalists, for all you do for SPJ, the profession and the public interest. Have a happy and safe holiday season.

Where will your SPJ membership take you this year?

Andrew M. Scott is the communications coordinator for SPJ Headquarters. He has been an SPJ member since 2008. Get to know Andrew more on Twitter: @PRMillennial.

When Richard Roth and I sat down for our Skype meet-and-greet, he was finishing his work day. I was just about to grab lunch.

There are seven hours separating Indianapolis and Qatar, but SPJ has nestled into the journalism fabric of both places now that Northwestern University in Qatar is starting up the first international student chapter.

It’s pretty exciting: They are one of the fastest-growing student chapters already, with 55 four-year members and counting.

“Going from zero to 55, you can’t do that in a Maserati,” joked Roth, who serves as senior associate dean at the NU Medill School of Journalism.

He also will serve as the Qatar chapter adviser (he has been an SPJ member since 1968) and hopes that their first meeting will be in October while school is in full-swing. Why later in the fall? Well, they’re waiting until after Ramadan, when some students fast for 15 hours a day.

His goal is to have a past SPJ president or newly elected president Hagit Limor attend their first meeting. The university even hopes to send some students to the 2011 SPJ Convention.

Something also brought up in conversation is how the journalism culture is different over there. It’s hard for students to report when people are wary of being interviewed, he said.

“Doing journalism here is a hard thing to do,” Roth said. “There’s no history here of free speech. When they go out, people don’t talk to them.”

Northwestern recently sent 12 Qatar students to New Orleans on a documentary trip. They examined the area and how it was rebuilding five years after Hurricane Katrina. One thing students noticed was that it was easy to report in the U.S., Roth said.

Students in Qatar are interested in learning about western journalism and staying connected to it, he said. To get students revved up about starting a chapter, he visited journalism classes and spoke about SPJ, saying that the organization began with students 100 years ago and that if NU Qatar students were interested, they should continue on with the tradition.

And an international chapter is no doubt going to add different perspectives to SPJ. They have students from Palestine, Sudan, South Africa, Egypt, India and Saudi Arabia, to name a few places.

“This is probably the most diverse student body you can imagine,” Roth said.

Since its creation, the chapter has had to deal with small challenges because of its long-distance relationship with SPJ, such as converting Qatari riyals to U.S. dollars and delivering checks from around the world, Roth said.

In two years, their first group of journalism students will graduate (the Qatari journalism program is two years old). Ten years from now, they hope to change the media landscape in Qatar.

And SPJ will be a part of that mission.

“So far, everyone has jumped to fill out the paperwork,” Roth said, “and I hope it continues that way.”

April Dudash is the summer 2010 Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and does the bidding of SPJ Headquarters. She graduated from the University of Florida in May and has been an SPJ member since 2006.

20/20 isn’t just an ABC News program. It has something to do with hindsight, and perhaps it’s applicable here.

We’ve received some constructive feedback and questions about a recent membership mailing sent to past SPJ members whose memberships had lapsed. The purpose of this mailing, paid for by a generous individual donor, was to tout SPJ’s efforts and encourage past members to rejoin. In this capacity, it was part of a membership campaign, not strictly a fundraising letter in the traditional sense of the term. (Rather, a fundraising appeal would more appropriately come from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, SPJ’s associated 501(c)(3) educational foundation, contributions to which are tax deductible.)

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The feedback has not been against the idea of the mailing, but rather a perceived omission. The card included a box that people could check if they wished to rejoin, along with preferred contact information. People could then detach the information, seal it and send back to us. We would then follow up with a phone call about SPJ membership.

However, there was no price for membership listed (though there is the option to donate a specified amount without becoming an actual member, for those who support our mission but don’t wish to formally join).

This omission of membership prices may have been taken at best as a glaring oversight, and we thank those who contacted us and expressed concern. However, the omission was intended and practical for several reasons. Specifically:

1)      SPJ has several individual membership categories: student, post-graduate, professional, associate, retired. With space limitations, we decided not to list all of them and their corresponding category definitions and yearly dues structure. Click here to see that information at SPJ.org.

2)      We honestly hoped that if you indicated a desire to rejoin and sent back the information card, it would spur a personal contact that is somewhat lacking in this age of text messages and smart phones (not that there’s anything wrong with those technologies). Thus, after receiving your card, we would call you, discuss SPJ membership and why it would help you, and talk about the industry, the profession and your desire to join SPJ.

In hindsight, that great 20/20 equalizer that everyone experiences with amazing clarity at some point, we should have mentioned this idea to call you and discuss SPJ membership (including dues) in greater depth. For that, and for any confusion, we apologize.

And to all who gave feedback: Thanks for letting us know. And thanks for reading your mail!

Sincerely,

Joe Skeel

Executive Director

Society of Professional Journalists

Sigma Delta Chi Foundation