Spring break is in less than a week and UNC is offering several programs to offer an insightful spring break, whether abroad or in the area.
UNC provides alternative spring break programs, such as the Hurricane Helene Relief Trip from UNC Wesley Campus Ministry.
Hussman School of Journalism and Media has a few classes that provide students opportunities to go abroad for spring break. Media and Journalism 447: Media in the U.K. and Media and Journalism 584: International Projects are two of the classes.
This spring, Media and Journalism 584 is heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to finish a semester-long project by gathering information and connecting with local people from the area to work on their stories. Brooke Bond, adjunct instructor of Media and Journalism 584, said that the class is focused on giving students real life experience creating a multimedia package — a longer form of journalism.
Media and Journalism 584 requires an application that opens in the fall semester. The class is targeted to students who are intermediate to advanced in the field of journalism. This year, the class is taking 27 students to Buenos Aires.
Prior to the spring break trip, students take time to gather story elements and connect with people they can potentially interview while in Buenos Aires. Media and Journalism 584 is partnering with a university in Buenos Aires — Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina — to work with journalism students from the area and give insights into the local community.
“I think the main thing that I got out of it was that collaborative piece that I was talking about, how to work with people who have different roles than you and making that work all together in order to create a single project at the end,” Bond said.
Coming back from Buenos Aires will lead to a month of students creating their final product, which will be published in April at the end of the semester. The public website will be open for everyone.
This trip will be an opportunity for students to work in an environment similar to how they would work in the field, as well as developing their collaborative skills to work with people with different specialties.