Reznet reporter Sunnie Redhouse was named this week as one of the nation's 100 best student journalists by UWire, a news and career service for college students.
Redhouse is also one of 11 staff members of reznetnews.org who have been selected for internships this summer at eight newspapers, including The Boston Globe and The Denver Post, and three bureaus of The Associated Press.
All of the "reznetters" are graduates of the American Indian Journalism Institute (AIJI), an intensive three-week program for college students sponsored by the Freedom Forum in June for the past seven years at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.
"It's validation of what we're trying to do, both in terms of reznet and AIJI," said Denny McAuliffe, who teaches reporting at AIJI and is the project director and creator of reznet. The six-year-old Web site is a project of the University of Montana School of Journalism in Missoula.
Redhouse, a Navajo who graduated this month from the University of New Mexico and is a 2005 AIJI grad, will report at The Salt Lake Tribune as one of 11 interns chosen by the Sports Journalism Institute, a nine-week national training and internship program.
In summer 2007, Redhouse reported for Sports Illustrated in New York. She worked as a general assignment and sports reporter in summers 2006 and 2005 at the St. Cloud (Minn.) Times. She also interned at the Albuquerque Journal during the 2007-08 school year and, last fall semester, at The Santa Fe New Mexican.
"Throughout my internships I've always been the only Native American female in the newsrooms," Redhouse wrote on UWire [1]. "It's one thing to be female in a sports department but another to be a Native American female in a sports department. I aspire to change that."
The other reznet interns are:
• Candace Begody, Navajo, a rising junior at the University of Arizona and a 2007 AIJI grad who will work as a reporter at The Detroit News in the Chips Quinn Scholars Program. In summer 2007, she was a reporter at the Missoulian in Missoula, Mont.
• Jordan Dresser, Northern Arapaho, a graduate this month of the University of Wyoming and a 2004-2005-2007 AIJI grad who will report at The Denver Post. In summer 2007, he was a reporter at The Forum in Fargo, N.D.; in 2006, a reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune; and in 2005, a reporter at The Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star.
• Megan Gordon, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, a graduate this month of the University of South Dakota and a 2006 AIJI grad who will be a Pulliam Fellow reporter at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. In summer 2007, she was a reporter at The Des Moines Register, and in summer 2006, a reporter at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D.
• Baxter Holmes, Choctaw, a rising senior at the University of Oklahoma and a 2006 AIJI grad who will be a sports reporter at The Boston Globe. In summer 2007, he worked at The Salt Lake Tribune as one of 13 interns chosen by the Sports Journalism Institute. He was a general assignment reporter at the Argus Leader in summer 2006.
• Mary Hudetz, Crow, a graduate student at the University of Montana and a 2006 AIJI grad who will be a reporter and editor in the Denver bureau of The Associated Press. She is editor of CrowNews.net, a community online newspaper serving the town of Crow Agency, Mont., and the Apsaalooke nation. In summer 2007, she was a reporter at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. A graduate of Fordham University, she worked primarily as an editor in summer 2006 at the AP bureau in Sioux Falls.
• Russel A. Daniels, Ho-Chunk and Navajo, a rising senior at the University of Montana and a 2005 and 2006 AIJI grad who will be a photographer in the Chicago bureau of The Associated Press in the Chips Quinn Scholars Program. In summer 2006, he was a photographer at the St. Cloud (Minn.) Times, and in summer 2005, a photographer at the Argus Leader.
• Nancy Kelsey, Little River Band of Ottawa, a graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a 2002 and 2007 AIJI grad, who will be a reporter in the Boston bureau of the Associated Press. Her previous summer internships were in 2007 at The Seattle Times, 2005 at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, 2004 at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, 2003 at the Fort Collins Coloradoan and 2002 at the Greeley (Colo.) Tribune. She is a graduate of Creighton University.
• Princella Parker, Omaha, a senior at Creighton University and a 2004 and 2007 AIJI grad, will be a multimedia reporter at the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader in the Chips Quinn Scholars Program.
• Adam Sings In The Timber, Crow, a senior at the University of Montana and 2005 AIJI grad, will be a multimedia intern at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. He is a staff member of CrowNews.net. In summers 2007 and 2006, he was a photographer at the Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune, and in summer 2005, a photographer at the Billings (Mont.) Gazette. He is a Chips Quinn Scholar.
• Terria Smith, Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla, a graduate this month of Humboldt State University and a 2006 AIJI grad, will be a reporter at the Ventura County (Calif.) Star in the Chips Quinn Scholars Program.
At AIJI, students compete for immediate six-week internships at Associated Press bureaus and newspapers primarily in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Montana. The Chips Quinn Scholars Program, sponsored by the Freedom Forum, is a diversity initiative that offers students of color internships and training in journalism, and scholarships.
Meanwhile, two former reznet staff members have moved to new positions in mainstream newsrooms.
• Devin Wagner, Crow, has landed his first full-time journalism job-as a photographer at The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun. A spring 2008 graduate of the University of Montana and a 2006 and 2007 AIJI grad, he completed a spring internship at The Bulletin in Bend, Ore., in the Chips Quinn Scholars Program. In summers 2007 and 2006, he was a photo intern at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls and the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, respectively.
• Sarah Welliver, Métis, a 2007 graduate of the University of Montana and a 2006 AIJI grad, begins a six-month photo internship in June at The Santa Fe New Mexican. In summer 2007, she was a photographer at the Detroit Free Press, and in summer 2006, a photographer at the Argus Leader.
A new AIJI session starts June 1, with a class of 21 students from tribes and colleges across the country.