Alums return the favor with Oklahoma mentoring program

Special for chipsquinn.org

Posted: May 13, 2003

Two Chips Quinn alums have created a mentoring program at their alma mater, the University of Oklahoma, with hopes of bringing more Native American students to work on the campus newspaper and encouraging them to pursue careers in news.

It's all about giving back, say program founders Seth Prince (Summer 1999 Scholar) and Amy McFall Prince (Summer 2000 Scholar).

Amy Mc Fall Prince

The couple started Native Connections in 2001. Literature for the program says, "Native Connections is designed to provide Native American students at The Oklahoma Daily with professional mentors throughout their college careers. During their time at the University of Oklahoma, the students will foster professional relationships with journalists working at metropolitan daily newspapers ..."

Says Seth Prince, a 2000 OU graduate, "Being part of Chips makes you realize how lucky we are to have newsroom veterans take an interest in you. They helped put us on the right paths to good things. Native Connections is one of our own little ways of returning that favor, I suppose."

Adds Amy McFall Prince, a 2001 OU graduate, "If we can help get a few more Native American journalists interested in the business and then see them become dedicated journalists who are passionate about their work, this program will truly be a success."

Seth Prince

Both are well on the path to their own success, in no small part, they say, because of the mentoring and hands-on coaching they got as Chips Quinn Scholars. Prince, whose heritage is Choctaw and Cherokee, is a copy editor at The Oregonian in Portland. McFall Prince, of Cherokee heritage, covers education for The Columbian in Vancouver, Wash.

Native Connections is modest at best, the two say, "a small-scale thing with great potential." They have worked with four students. One of them, Stephanie Conduff, has been selected for a Chips Quinn internship in Summer 2003, when she’ll work at the Muskogee (Okla.) Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat.

"In our connections program, I correspond with Seth and Amy on a weekly basis," Conduff says. "They critique my clips and help me to improve my resume. I am able to receive insight from professionals in the journalism community while improving my skills …"

OU professors contribute to the program by encouraging students to stay in touch with their mentors.

Says Jack Willis, editorial adviser of The Oklahoma Daily, "I can't imagine a better way than Native Connections for professional journalists to give back to their university and to their culture.

"They're terrific journalists and wonderful people," Willis says about the couple. "I'm impressed that they are taking the time and effort to help younger Native American journalists succeed."

OU has been at the top of four-year, public universities in the number of communications degrees awarded Native Americans.

"We're doing it at the University of Oklahoma, and specifically at The Oklahoma Daily, for several reasons," Prince says. "First, because of our ties there. It's home, and always will be. Second, because there are some outstanding professors there who have provided us with great educations in the classroom, in the newsroom and in life. We know they believe in us, in the importance of diversity in newsrooms and will help us manage the logistical difficulties of running something like this from halfway across the country. And we're both Native American and want to work with other Native students to help get them rolling on careers in this business."

The couple says Native Connections was inspired by Denny McAuliffe, a University of Montana professor whose work with Native American students includes creating Reznet, an online newspaper that publishes the work of Native students, and participating in the Freedom Forum’s Native American Newspaper Career Conference for high school students.

Says McFall Prince, "After talking with Denny, I got to thinking about how great this was for Native journalism students before they ever get to college. And I wanted to do something for those students once they got into college. I got the program running before I graduated in May of 2001. With Seth's help and the help of some OU faculty and staff, it started to grow."

What does Native Connections hold for the future?

Prince says, "I suppose in our dreams, it'd snowball on us. Our first goal was to help get more Native students into and staying at The Daily. We need to do more on this front. Then we wanted to link students to internships, which we've accomplished with Stephanie. We want more of that… Then we want to help them -- whether it's through simple advice and preparation or through any contacts we might have -- land their first jobs."

Says Willis, "Once the program becomes more established and one or two students maintain enough longevity to see the long-range benefits come out of it, I know Amy and Seth will have even more success."

Long term, Prince says, "It would be outstanding if alums of our little program decided they wanted to be mentors along with us upon graduation. It would expand our ranks and perpetuate the program. And it'd just go from there. Then, like John Quinn says, maybe someday when we're in positions to hire, we can call up one of them and say ‘Hey, come on over. We've got a spot for you.’"

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