The College Fix

Our 2017 year-end fundraising campaign runs through Dec. 31, so please consider a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help us continue to publish the best campus news in the nation. Thanks for your support!

“Hi, my name is Haley Toy and I am an English major at Palomar College in Southern California. I chose English as my major because I love reading and writing, but I wasn’t quite sure how that might translate into a career. Now, thanks to The College Fix, the world of journalism has opened up to me.

I started reporting for The College Fix in September, and have since written almost a dozen news articles. I’ve interviewed Professor Scott Yenor at Boise State, who is under fire for being a conservative, and Dr. Danilo Petranovich, who is head of the budding Abigail Adams Institute at Harvard. I’ve reported on how Eastern Illinois University is considering a name change to its Lincoln Hall dorm, and covered a “Whiteness Forum” at Cal State San Marcos at which students described 14 ways “whiteness” allegedly oppresses society. That article even landed on the Drudge Report, which was really exciting for me.

Now, I plan to apply for The College Fix’s summer 2018 journalism fellowship. I am excited to explore a career in media and am grateful for the guidance, instruction, inspiration and support The College Fix provides me.”

That’s just one recent success story that The College Fix is proud to showcase as we say goodbye to 2017 and mark another incredibly successful year. We made important higher education stories go viral and held professors’ and administrators’ accountable for their decisions. But beyond that, we have invested in, mentored, nourished and poured into the lives of college students who seek to enter media as a career and make a difference. Haley is one example, but there are so many more, we are humbled and proud to say.

Meet Diana Stancy.

Between 2014 and 2016, Diana Stancy worked as a student reporter for The College Fix while attending North Carolina’s Elon University. She covered everything from her university’s decision to drop the term “freshmen” to economic issues facing higher education. Impressed with her budding journalism talents, Stancy was chosen as a summer 2016 College Fix/Student Free Press Association fellow and worked at the Washington Examiner. There, she continued to hone her reporting skills.

A year after she graduated from college, College Fix editors received this note from her:

“I hope you are doing well! I just wanted to let you know that I accepted a job at the Washington Examiner as a breaking news reporter! I’m really excited about this opportunity and I know a significant reason why I was selected was because I had previously interned there as a Student Free Press Association fellow and the editors were very familiar with my work. Thank you so much for your help, guidance, and mentorship throughout this process. I really appreciate your encouraging words as I’ve tried to find a way back into journalism. Thank you so much for investing in me!”

Today, Diana continues to work as a breaking news reporter at the Washington Examiner, and The College Fix/Student Free Press Association is grateful to have helped such a bright, driven young woman succeed in following her dreams.

Here’s another success story. It comes from Conor Beck. When we first met Conor, he was majoring in engineering at Rice University and had a dream to break into the news business. Here’s what he has to say about his journey:

When I applied for The College Fix’s journalism fellowship in 2016, I tried to keep my expectations low. I had been attempting a career change I didn’t think was possible, from a budding engineer to a conservative journalist.

Prior to getting a fellowship with The College Fix, my experience in conservative journalism was limited to an internship with LifeNews. I reached a lot of readers there, but I needed to hone some skills before starting my ten week fellowship at the Weekly Standard in D.C. And they did just that. As a student reporter for The College Fix, editors gave me advice and helped me write articles before my internship even started.

This kind of mentoring continued during and after my internship. John Miller let me and the other College Fix interns know at the SFPA dinner last year that if we needed any help finding jobs, he’d help.

He meant it, and that was really cool to hear from someone that has a very busy schedule and who seems to know everyone in D.C. His guidance, and The College Fix as a whole, has enabled me to continue my career as a journalist at the Washington Free Beacon, where I’m having more fun than I thought you’re supposed to have at work.

I’m so thankful The College Fix took a chance to let me prove myself in this field. If it weren’t for them, there’s no way I’d be where I am today.

As editors of The College Fix, we are honored and blessed to work with so many fantastic and talented young people. We love sharing our time and talents with this promising group to not only invest in their lives but also help them report on woes plaguing higher education. It’s a win-win, and we are grateful for your readership and support this year.

Our 2017 year-end fundraising campaign runs through Dec. 31, so please consider a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help us continue to publish the best campus news in the nation. Thanks for your support!

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