Update: Mizzou NAHJ named Chapter of the Year
Mizzou’s NAHJ Chapter at the NAHJ national conference in Hollywood.
L-R: Dean David Kurpius, Emilia Hansen, Piper Molins, Sophie Rentschler,
Tadeo Ruiz, Evan Holden, Matias Remley and Assistant Professor Jeannette Porter.
UPDATE: Mizzou NAHJ won Chapter of the Year at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Conference and Expo in Hollywood, California, on Wednesday, July 11. The original story continues below.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (July 1, 2024) — Missouri NAHJ, the Missouri School of Journalism’s chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, has been named one of three national finalists for NAHJ Chapter of the Year. The winner will be announced at the annual NAHJ convention in Hollywood, California, which takes place July 9-13.
“In coming together with peers to help each other succeed while strengthening connections with Spanish-speaking communities, students are demonstrating that the Missouri Method of learning by doing is not confined to our classrooms and professional newsrooms,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School. “This recognition is a testament to the passion these students bring to every part of their academic careers, a passion that the communities they engage with in mid-Missouri recognize and appreciate.”
Missouri NAHJ will now compete against chapters at the University of Arkansas and Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo. The honor comes one year after the chapter relaunched in 2023 under faculty adviser Sebastián Martínez Valdivia, though Martínez was quick to emphasize that it was the students who built the chapter from the ground up.
“So much of this has been the students’ own hard work and initiative,” Martínez said. “They saw that the local chapter wasn’t there, and they took it upon themselves to make it happen. This is a really deserved recognition.”
Tadeo Ruiz, a rising senior and outgoing co-president of the chapter — a title he shares with fellow senior Sophie Rentschler — said the chapter is meant to allow students to build bridges beyond the campus community by becoming more engaged with Latinx populations in Columbia and beyond.
“We wanted to create programs that would allow us to actually connect with our local community and build a lasting impact,” Ruiz said. “Not just with students, but more generally with the Hispanic communities that exist here.”
We wanted to create programs that would allow us to actually connect with our local community and build a lasting impact. Not just with students, but more generally with the Hispanic communities that exist here.
Tadeo Ruiz
That approach entailed not only creating new programs, such as a media tour to Kansas City facilitated by Martínez’s professional connections in the city, but becoming more engaged and intertwined with existing campus efforts. De Veras, a project that won the Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Student Innovation Competition last year and now partners with independent radio station KOPN-FM to deliver bilingual news to Missouri’s Latinx communities, was folded into NAHJ to ensure it would persist after its founders graduated.
In addition, a community outreach program with KBIA-FM, the Missouri News Network’s NPR-member station, saw NAHJ members reach out to the small town of Sedalia, Missouri, to discover stories and voices from that community that needed to be heard.
The chapter has also hosted talks from several professional journalists, including Eyder Peralta, NPR’s international correspondent for Ruiz’s hometown of Mexico City, Mexico, and Chris Peña, formerly senior vice president of news for Univision Local Media.
For Ruiz, the opportunity to meet with both student peers and accomplished professionals who share common identities, language and experiences has encouraged him to step more confidently toward his future.
“When you go into a group where everyone has something in common with you in some way, you realize that you are not as small as you think you are,” Ruiz said. “Once you realize that you are at a young stage and that you will grow with other people, that fear of uncertainty kind of goes away. It will always be there, but it becomes easier to handle once you know you won’t be fighting alone.”
Martínez concurred.
“For some students, this is their first experience in a predominantly white space,” Martínez said. “Having this community of people who have had similar experiences can be huge. It can help you form a social network and a kind of support group for people going through similar stuff. You’re also getting to meet people who have been at Mizzou for a couple of years and can show you the ropes.”
Jeannette Porter, director of engagement and student development at the School of Journalism, added that the national honor for NAHJ demonstrates the synergy between identity-based student groups and the work of the School of Journalism more broadly.
“The J-School is a benchmark for excellence nationally, and this recognition shows that students are extending that excellence to their work in affinity groups,” Porter said. “They inhabit their Hispanic and Latinx identities proudly, and they are proud to be doing that at the School of Journalism.”
Updated: July 11, 2024