VSU Student Selected for International Reporting Program

VALDOSTA – Valdosta State University student Will Lewis will join approximately 20 students from all over the world in Israel this summer to participate in ieiMedia’s summer international reporting program.

Through the program, Lewis will complete courses taught by veteran journalists, including NPR Jerusalem correspondent Linda Gradstein and former Christian Science Monitor reporter Ilene Prusher. Lewis and fellow students will be taught best practices in developing sources, conducting interviews, working with interpreters, reporting on various cities and then publishing their work on the Web.

The program begins June 25 and lasts four weeks. Lewis will earn six credit hours from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem upon completion of two courses. He was nominated for the program by his professor, Dr. Pat Miller.

“I was really excited to be accepted,” said Lewis. “I’m thrilled to be taken out of Valdosta and placed somewhere with completely new people and cultures. I look forward to learning from people who are in that field about networking and how I need to prepare. I will also get a taste of how the climate is and the political scene over there."

Lewis also expressed excitement about meeting and learning from Ilene Prusher.

“Her articles are fantastic,” Lewis said. “She really attaches the reader to the subject of the story.”

A junior in the English Department, Lewis would like to become a wartime correspondent after receiving his bachelor’s degree in journalism. 

“I was initially a literature major, but recently switched to journalism,” said Lewis. “I just sat down and really thought about what I wanted to do with my life. I have always followed the news and some correspondents. That really spoke to me as a profession. It stood out as something I really want to do.”

Lewis also gains valuable experience for his career as a reporter with The Spectator, the independent student newspaper distributed weekly at VSU.

For more information about programs offered through ieiMedia, visit http://ieimedia.com/ .