Jadenne Radoc Cabahug had no idea that a story she wrote for University of Washington’s student-run paper would follow her to the Seattle Times. The piece exposed the fact that a company was partnering directly with sororities to sell college students at-home sexual assault DNA collection kits—-profitting off of survivors when the kits are provided for free by the state and university.
During her statehouse reporting internship with the Seattle Times, Cabahug wrote an about the Washington Legislature deliberating over banning the DIY collection kits because they provide inadequate legal evidence and hinder justice being served.
“That was my favorite story, because I got to track it from when I was a reporter at The Daily to when I was a reporter at the Seattle Times,” said Cabahug. “It was cool to see how far my reporting had gotten…and see how lawmakers turned it into law.”
This is one of the more than 60 articles Cabahug wrote as a student intern for the Seattle Times as part of the long-standing at the University of Washington. Advanced journalism students are placed at newsrooms in the state’s capital for 10 weeks to report on the Legislature every winter session.
John Tomasic, artist-in-residence at the University of Washington, directs the state government program and supports student interns throughout the journalistic process.
“The learning curve is just like a hockey stick,” said Tomasic. “The stakes are so much higher that [the student interns] learn so fast. They just have to make choices, and they have to turn in the story by a certain deadline, and they have to reckon with the editor's feedback and the blowback from any lawmakers or community members …That's all such a good experience, even if it's a little bit challenging at the time.”
Aspen Anderson, a student who participated in the statehouse reporting program this year, said the opportunity to work for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association spurred exponential professional growth.
“You can't learn journalism in a classroom,” said Anderson. “I think that that's really the only way to do it. You just have to start writing.”
In order to reduce the barriers to entry, students are provided housing in Olympia during the internship so that they are set up for success in newsrooms such as the Seattle Times, Cascade PBS, The Northwest News Tribune, The UW Daily, and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.
Molly Harbarger, an editor at the Seattle Times who manages internships, said she works directly with students because she sees the mentorship as an investment in the next generation of journalists who can contribute positively to the news ecosystem.
“We really feel a strong mandate to make sure that we're creating a pipeline for student journalists to become the journalists that we want to hire in our own newsroom—who have an eye to making their community better, upholding democracy, who understand how to hold powerful to account, but also just know the fundamentals so that when they go into their next job, whether it be with us or somewhere else, they're ready to hit the ground running,” said Harbarger.
Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero was a student intern at the Seattle Times. She recalled that her experience helped her grow as a writer and hone in on her professional goals.
“[The program] really taught me what I'm looking for in both an editor and in a newsroom,” said Romero. “It is so valuable for me because when I'm looking for job opportunities in the future, I know how I want to be supported in the future.”
Donna Blakinship, news editor at Cascade PBS, also views the statehouse reporting program as a training ground for young journalists and emphasized the value of the partnership for her newsroom.
“These students all have been good writers and they've all been pretty smart and figured out how to navigate the legislature, so they've almost contributed as much to us as we've contributed to them,” said Blankenship.
The University of Washington offers another experiential journalism program which places students in newsrooms all over the world; Anderson will be reporting in Thailand and Romero will be reporting abroad in Samoa this summer.
Cabahug spent 10 weeks in Japan through the International Journalism Scholarship Program where she said she learned how to self-advocate in the newsroom. Cabahug said she was most proud of an enterprise story she wrote for the Japan Times about safety concerns for tourists in Japan after Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted.
“I just wanted to be able to use my language skills and be able to show later in the future [that] you could send me basically anywhere, and I'll be fine on my own two feet,” said Cabahug.
Journalism students at the University of Washington often take the two experiential journalism programs in succession and the learning experience of the two programs prepares young people to be engaged in their communities, according to Tomasic.
“It is this great eye-opening experience,” said Tomasic. “There's no way to reproduce that in a class that's going to be as intense and as memorable.”