Joe’s piece, “The Enduring Legacy of the 2010 Kalamazoo River Oil Spill,” was published in Belt Magazine in 2019.

“Initially, I chose English 322 as a means of narrowing down my interests within the University’s English department. In this pursuit to refine my interests, 322 ended up introducing me to some entirely new ones. I knew I liked to write and to read, but had minimal practical experience writing as an occupation, outside of occasional high school journalism and sporadic creative submissions to the Daily. As far as the classes I took at Michigan go, 322 was one of the most generative.”

“The workshop structure sort of serendipitously prepared me to write a longer senior thesis while challenging me to produce critique-worthy work. I found a home in Professor Hinken’s classroom, and quickly grew comfortable in the discussion-focused course.”

“To say that 322 has great bones even before the introduction of multiple journalists is evident in the way it motivates writing outside the classroom. In whole, the result is a course with boundless creative freedom and plenty of support, both academic (Prof. Hinken will encourage whatever you choose to work on) and professional (you frequently workshop with a journalist) that is as challenging and multi-modal as you decide to make it. 322 is a course unique to Michigan, and is a worthwhile semester regardless of your big-picture goals postgrad. To practice any form of writing with the guidance and feedback of multiple professionals on a bi-weekly basis is a rare opportunity that I was lucky to find in 322.”

“In working with both Anna Clark and Prof. Hinken in 322, I found opportunities, creative freedom, and genuine interest in environmental writing. Anna taught me how to write a successful pitch, and I continue to use that skill today. I still write, research, and paddle rivers. I’m currently working on a piece highlighting the corroded industrialization along the Rouge and Detroit Rivers. I used a lot of my research and workshop skills from 322 to write an Honors thesis my senior year through the English department. I also manage a vegan kitchen in town.”

“I decided to take Community Journalism because of a strong recommendation from Mr. Hinken. It sounded like it would be a fun class, and I was really thrilled by the prospect of working closely with real journalists. It ended up being one of the best classes I’ve taken at UM. I don’t think there are many classes that incorporate individual field work into the course work, but I gleaned some really valuable experiences from my research for this class. I got to meet the person who not only founded a youth orchestra that changed my life when I was 16 years old, but who saved one of the most beautiful and meaningful music venues I’ve ever had the honor of seeing or playing in.”

“The relationship we all got to form with our journalist “mentors” created a really nice support system and kind of allowed us a foot in the door in terms of networking. I’m fully planning to try to get into the world of journalism after I graduate, which isn’t something I thought was possible for me before. This class gave me all of the experience I needed in order to feel confident enough to call myself a writer, and that is something that I will forever be thankful for.”

Read Liza’s piece about Detroit’s Paradise Theater, “Long Live Paradise.”

Will’s piece, “Detroit City FC is going pro, whether American soccer wants it or not,” was published in the Detroit Metro Times in 2019.

Will says: “I took the course because I knew I wanted to pursue a career in journalism since Sophomore year and there’s a lack of journalism courses at UofM. As a student at the Ford School, I was able to craft my own focus area called “Public Journalism” and this course was a piece of that curriculum. It opened my eyes to a form of nonfiction writing I hadn’t been exposed to before: longform narrative journalism. While I don’t get to do this kind of writing often in a professional capacity, I see it as journalism in its highest form and aspire to writing something as great as “Upon this Rock” one day!”

During his senior year, Will interned at the Detroit Metro Times. He graduated from UM in 2019, at which time he joined CNBC and covered technology companies and the Covid-19 pandemic for two years. In April 2021, Will took a job on the New York Post‘s business deck. He covers corporate lobbying in Albany and City Hall.

Caitlyn reflects: “I signed up for English 322 because I was interested in creative nonfiction and long form journalism. The class gave me the opportunity to choose a topic I was curious about and experience the process of building out a story around it from early planning stages, to investigation and research, to writing, revising, and pitching. I also gained a lot of valuable career insight from the journalists mentoring the class.”

Read Caitlyn’s piece, “Ann Arbor’s Optimistic Startup Community.”

Caitlyn graduated in 2020 with a major in English and minors in computer science, digital studies, and writing. She is currently a technical writer.

Maddie is passionate about sports journalism and wrote about student-athletes’ experience of Covid-19 for English 322. Maddie writes: “English 322 helps me excel in journalism skills such as researching and writing about topics that have prepared me for my current job as a sports reporter. Through taking this class I was able to apply my passion for sports to a piece that related to so many student athletes during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was incredibly important to me.” Read Maddie’s piece: “Covid-19 Causes Seniors to Think: Are They Still Student-Athletes?“

At UM, Maddie was also involved in WOLV TV’s show Wolverine Women, serving as the Executive Producer her senior year. She was also a crew member for BTN Student U. Maddie graduated in 2021 with a degree in Communication and Media. After graduating, she landed a job as a reporter and host for My Michigan TV.

Sammy and Alex’s article, “Being poor on rich U-M campus still a struggle as school broadens reach,” was published in August 2019 by Bridge Michigan.

Sammy reports: “I took the course because I had a fair amount of student reporting experience but little exposure to the professional side of the reporting work. I wanted to work with a professional journalist to craft a piece of reporting within the constraints of professional reporting. I learned so much from Ron French during the semester that I took the course, particularly regarding all the planning that goes into the pre-writing and pre-reporting process. I now do a fair amount of work as a freelance investigative reporter—this is almost entirely thanks to Ron and everything he taught me about how the professional world works.”

Sammy is currently the investigative editor of Focal Point, the Michigan Daily‘s investigative reporting team. He interned for the Investigative Reporting Workshop in the summer of 2021. Outside investigative reporting, Sammy is writing a book about the secret double-life of his great-grandfather, an Austrian Jewish academic who spent 1936-1938 reporting under a non-Jewish pen name for a Belgian newspaper about the rise of Nazism in Austria. Excepts from Sammy’s book have appeared the Daily and the Detroit Jewish News.

Lane’s piece – “Flint, once home to legendary basketball teams, is now down to one” – was published in May 2020 by Bridge Michigan. She reflects on the experience: “I absolutely loved English 322. The class gives you so much time and freedom to delve into your own work with enough guidance to feel like you’re not completely on your own. Having a practicing journalist as a mentor was an invaluable experience, not just for completing my project but for getting a sense of the industry and continuing to hone my writing overall. From the course material to the instructor to the general format of the class, I have yet to find another course at Michigan that teaches long-form journalism in such a holistic way.”

Lane is a member of the class of 2022, majoring in Public Policy. She is the Managing Sports Editor for the Michigan Daily, where she also writes for the Daily‘s longform magazine The Statement. Lane’s other journalistic experience includes a sports internship at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, serving as a basketball stringer for the Associated Press, and freelance work for the Detroit Free Press.