Ever wondered what it would be like to help produce a podcast or a live daily radio show? Through a new partnership between, Vermont’s source for NPR and PBS programming and local news, and ¶¶Òõ̽̽’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), students are getting the chance to do just that and much more. New ¶¶Òõ̽̽ lecturer Kelsey Tolchin-Kupferer leads the Vermont Public Partnership Program and teaches radio journalism classes. We sat down with her to learn more about this exciting new program.
CAS: What exactly is the Vermont Public Partnership Program?
Kelsey Tolchin-Kupferer: The goal of this new partnership is to promote hands-on learning opportunities for students in all aspects of a media organization—including reporting, production, marketing, music and more—and to mentor and engage the next generation of courageous and ethical journalists. ¶¶Òõ̽̽ students can now take one of two new audio storytelling classes, and they can spend a semester embedded with a Vermont Public team as part of a paid internship.
The internship teams will change each semester based on Vermont Public’s needs and student interests, and they’ll span all of Vermont Public, which is hiring, managing, and mentoring the interns. ¶¶Òõ̽̽ is the academic home for the program, building up students’ skills in public media journalism and helping recruit students for the internships. Student interns will work about 15 to 20 hours a week throughout the semester, and during that time they can earn up to $5,000 in addition to course credit.
CAS: Who can participate? How long is it slated to run?
KTK: Any currently enrolled ¶¶Òõ̽̽ student, graduate or undergraduate, who is authorized to work in the United States is eligible to apply for the internships. Vermont Public will host two to three interns each semester, counting summer, for four years, with the goal of hosting 20 interns by 2028.
CAS: How did the program come about?
KTK: It has been several years in the making and supported and championed by dozens of people across Vermont Public, the Center for Community News, the CAS internship program, the Film and Television Studies program, the Reporting and Documentary Storytelling minor, and the university more broadly. Brittany Patterson, who is Vermont Public’s executive editor, is one of the people who has really shepherded the collaboration. In 2022, she started working with ¶¶Òõ̽̽ students and teaching a version of the courses that I’ll be teaching. That was really successful and helped pave the way for this partnership.
CAS: Tell us about the courses you’re teaching.
KTK: The first class is called Audio Storytelling. Students learn how to use professional audio recording and editing equipment and how to tell true, compelling stories using sound. I call this class an audio playground—it’s a place to experiment and play and develop your taste and style while also making great narrative nonfiction radio stories.
The second class is called Radio Journalism. Students produce audio and print news stories for the ¶¶Òõ̽̽ , which can then be picked up by local news outlets like Vermont Public or other print, digital, or audio news outlets throughout the region. The stories will cover people, places, and issues across Vermont.
CAS: What is your background?
KTK: I’ve been really lucky to do this very specific thing that I love to do for more than a decade: guiding high school and college students through the process of making nonfiction radio stories. I’ve led youth media programs at two NPR member stations and a documentary film festival, and I co-wrote a for other NPR stations that want to start their own youth media programs. I love public media journalism, and I love teaching, and it’s a joy to work alongside students as they make great radio.
CAS: What has been the students’ reaction to the program?
KTK: It does seem like there is true hunger to learn radio journalism and audio storytelling skills and to work with Vermont Public specifically. There’s been a ton of interest in both the internships and the classes. We got 10 wonderful internship applications of enthusiastic, smart, driven, creative students for this semester. And the classes, which are each capped at 16 students, filled up right away and have a wait list.
This semester, Vermont Public is hosting two production interns through the program. Catherine Morrissey, a senior studying film and reporting and documentary storytelling, will be interning with the Brave Little State podcast team. Anna Berg, a senior studying anthropology, reporting and documentary storytelling, and political science, will be interning with the Vermont Edition daily show team. They’re both great, and I feel so lucky to work with them.
CAS: What is unique about the program? Why is it such a great opportunity?
KTK: In these courses and internships, students become working journalists, and they produce stories about and for our community. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people across our region will hear these stories, and they’ll have a real effect on real people in our state.
At a time when media literacy is low, students get to see first-hand the process that a public media story goes through before it’s published. In my radio journalism class, stories go through at least six edits, and students learn that good journalists agonize over making sure every single word of their story is accurate.
Because of this partnership, Vermont Public gets to work with young people who have new ideas and a different set of knowledge, experiences, and access than their older peers. Community members get more stories about their region. And we have more journalists out covering things from a younger perspective. So, hopefully, it’s a win for everybody—the students, the university, the news outlets, and the community.
