From Oct. 23-24, The Kenyon Collegian is hosting a journalism conference open to the Kenyon community and all former Collegian staff, featuring a range of Kenyon alumni with distinguished careers in the field of journalism. The conference will include a networking event, allowing students to mingle and create connections with prestigious alumni, as well as a panel for professionals to offer their experience and advice. Aiming to demystify the journey from Gambier to newsrooms, nonprofits and boardrooms across the country, the Collegian Journalism Conference offers current students a crucial bridge from college coursework to professional life.
The panel will be held Oct. 23, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m in Oden Hall’s Archon Auditorium and the networking luncheon will be on Oct. 24, from 11:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m. in the Alumni Dining Room of Peirce Hall.
The panel and a preceding dessert reception are open to all and will feature a variety of professionals from across the spectrum of American journalism. The panelists include representatives from The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vogue and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Attendees will be welcomed by Matthew Winkler ’77 P’13 H’00, a former Collegian editor-in-chief and the co-founder of Bloomberg News. The panel will include discussions of journalism today and careers in journalism, moderated by the current Collegian executive staff, before ending in a Q&A session with the audience.
Friday’s RSVP-only luncheon will be a chance for past Collegian staff, panelists, alumni and current students alike to connect over lunch, providing a low-stress opportunity for networking. After the luncheon, conference attendees will have the opportunity to see the Collegian’s offices, relocated this year to Peirce Hall’s Chase Tower from North Campus’ R-17.
Panelist Erin Mershon ’12 was an editor-in-chief and design editor during her time at The Kenyon Collegian, and is now a deputy media editor at The New York Times. Recounting her experience, Mershon said, “The Collegian was a highlight of my time at Kenyon, and I’m delighted to come back to campus to meet and speak with students who might be interested in journalism as a career.”
Mershon encouraged involvement from all students, emphasizing that “the best way to learn journalism is to go out and do journalism — exercising your reporting and writing muscles and honing your news judgment.”
The Collegian Journalism Conference is a unique opportunity for all students, whether involved in the Collegian or not, to engage with successful journalists and fully take advantage of everything the writer’s college has to offer.