A contingent of 17 Penn State students and two faculty members, all of whom spent spring break in Mexico City as part of an international reporting class conducted for the first time this spring by the College of Communications, returned safely to Happy Valley this week with an abundance of memories and quality work to show as a result of the trip.
The students, a mix of broadcast and print journalism majors from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia, spent the first part of the semester preparing for the trip and the numerous stories they would write. While in Mexico City the students also compiled a great deal of information for longer stories that they'll write as the semester continues.
On-location video reports and slideshows from their trip may be found online now at ComMedia (http://commedia.psu.edu/displayMedia/multimediaProjects/mmp_mexico_sp09.php), the showcase site for student work form the College of Communications.
One of the first stories students conducted, about Santa Muerte, was based on a trip to a "witchcraft market." Topics for other stories range from garbage dumps, immigration and plastic surgery to bullfighting, water quality and wrestling.
Faculty members Tony Barbieri, the Foster Professor of Writing and Editing in the Department of Journalism who teaches ethics and reporting classes, and Ann Kuskowski, a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism who teaches broadcast journalism classes, accompanied the students on the trip.