By Tim Stephens, APSE President, CBSSports.com
The question caught me off guard as I walked from table to table, speaking to university representatives about APSE, at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Orlando last year. APSE has accepted student members for a couple of years now, and I wanted to reach out in hopes of growing the numbers.
"Why don't you have student chapters?" came the question from a student at the table hosted by Syracuse University.
It was a good question. Students want to be more than just members of APSE. They want to have a voice. They want to help shape their own role in our organization. This is important if we want the ties established with students, and the mentoring opportunities those ties create, to mean anything to them as they move into the workforce. This is a big reason I made mentorship a focus of my inauguration speech at the convention last June.
We need the students we reach to become active members and the future leaders of our newsrooms and of APSE.
So I took that question and put it to several student members as well as faculty advisers at several prominent journalism programs. They agreed: Student chapters should be the natural evolution of APSE’s outreach to the next generation of journalists.
It's about more than creating a student voice for APSE; it is about giving students a stake in APSE. We have done a good job recruiting students and certainly the generosity of many sports editors who paid for student memberships out of their own pockets is noteworthy and appreciated. But the student initiative also needs to shift to the students and universities who value sports journalism and want to take a larger role in building a sustainable model for student participation.
But how would we go about that? What, if any, bylaws would be required? Would students have their own APSE contest? How would we handle dues?
At the winter conference in Indianapolis, I shared my outline for student chapters with the membership as part of a list of five priorities for APSE as we sprint to our convention in Washington D.C., this summer.
This structure is simply a starting point; I have asked our Futures Committee led by Glen Crevier of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis to carefully review it and make any recommendations for revisions. Please feel free to send feedback or suggestions on our plan for student chapters to me at tim.stephens@cbsinteractive.com or Glen at Glen.Crevier@startribune.com
STUDENT CHAPTER GUIDELINES
* Student chapters may be formed at accredited four- and two-year colleges or universities.
* Student chapter must complete an application and submit a membership roster that list each member’s school classification and major.
* The application must be accompanied by a nomination letter from the student chapter adviser, a media member of APSE or a professor who is an associate member of APSE.
* Student fee will be $25 and educator fee will be $100, as approved by the executive committee via unanimous vote on March 5, 2014.
* Student fees shall be retained by the chapter; educator fee shall be retained by APSE and earmarked for student-related activities at the summer convention or region meetings. Student fees submitted by students or their sponsors who are not members of a student chapter shall be retained by APSE and also earmarked for student activities.
* The application should include an outline of chapter activities proposed for the academic year (meetings, programs, membership drives, fundraising, mentoring opportunities).
* A student chapter must be comprised of at least 10 initial members who have paid dues for the academic year. Student members within a chapter can come from multiple universities within an APSE geographic region. Example: A University of Texas chapter could conceivably be home to students from nearby campuses if there are not enough students to support a chapter at those nearby schools).
* Student chapters must meet at least quarterly for a minimum of 4 meetings per year. Student chapters must keep financial records and submit an annual report to APSE.
* Student chapters will be eligible to attend APSE regional and national events and will qualify for a student discount on registration fees. A student chapter bringing 10 or more registered members to APSE Convention can qualify for additional financial support.
* APSE will establish a student liaison committee that will coordinate all student charter affairs and create mentorship opportunities for student members.
* APSE will conduct a job fair or student-editor mixer for student members at the national convention.
* APSE student chapters shall elect one representative who will serve all student chapters as a representative on the student liaison committee.
* Student chapters shall be recognized via a vote of the executive committee. Charters will be reviewed each year at the summer convention.
* After a charter is granted, the chapter must submit an annual audit to the APSE student liaison committee who will make recommendations to the executive committee for renewal. Student chapters falling below the 10-member minimum shall be granted 1-year probationary status.
Student members have already benefitted from the relationships established through APSE membership, many of them thanks to the generous sponsorships of sports editors such as Ron Fritz of the Baltimore Sun, whose idea to sponor students sparked this entire effort. I have sponsored several myself, including a young man at Cal State Fullerton who connected with me via Facebook. I've never actually met Jonathan Mathis, but he is passionate about sports journalism and has been responsive to a little coaching about writing, reporting, effective social media, video presentation and more. How far he goes in his career is up to him, but I'm proud that he's proud to be an APSE student member.
"It means a lot to be part of an organization that can benefit me in the future and help me accomplish my goal and turn my dream into reality," Mathis said.
I met Stephanie Kuzydym at our convention in Salt Lake City a few years ago. She was a sophomore at Indiana University then, and she would go on to become one of our first student APSE members. I actually did more than just meet her — I hired her as a sports intern at the Orlando Sentinel. From there, she graduated college and became a multimedia reporter covering Oklahoma Sooners sports for current APSE First Vice President Mike Sherman at The Oklahoman, and now she is covering high school sports for Northeast Ohio Media Group.
I'd say that's a pretty good start to a career.
"When I went to Salt Lake City directly following my sophomore year, I thought it'd just be a chance to see a new city while having the ability to take photos and help Indiana University. It ended up changing my college and professional career," Kuzydym said. "And hey, is getting to know editors across the nation with a handshake so they can place a face with a name instead of name with a piece of paper really harmful to your career? Heck no."
Anyone who has interacted with students at region meetings or national conventions can speak to their enthusiasm to connect with us. It also has cleary been a big victory anytime we’ve taken a region meeting to a college campus as we have done at Northwestern, Penn State, Marist and others in recent years.
It is my hope that we’ll be welcoming our first student chapters into the organization before our June convention, and that they'll become the model for others to follow.
Tim Stephens is Deputy Managing Editor of CBSSports.com and president of APSE for 2013-14.
