News

Journalism Builds Community Ties

Journalism Lecturer B.J. Roche and the Journalism Program Lecture Series on Broadcast and the Media invited an English class and the newspaper staff from Springfield's Commerce High School to the November 14 lecture by Pulitzer Prize winner H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger, author of the best-selling book Friday Night Lights. Made into an award-winning movie, it has also become a hit NBC television show.

The students' trip to UMass grew out of Prof. Nick McBride's Community Journalism class, which is working with the Commerce students to develop a website for their student newspaper.  McBride also works with Commerce English teacher Brian Duffey '06 (journalism and sociology). All of the students have received copies of Bissinger's book.

The UMass admissions office chartered a bus to bring the students to Amherst where Journalism students met them to talk about the opportunities at UMass Amherst. Following a pizza reception, the Commerce students listened to Bissinger's talk and had their books autographed. They also received UMass Amherst/Social and Behavioral Sciences bags stuffed with admissions information.

Journalism Program Director Karen List says this event “represents a collaborative effort between Admissions, SBS and Journalism to build a relationship with Commerce students, and we hope some of them will become UMass Amherst students on down the road.”

November 8, 2007