Writing internship opportunity for learning, sharing passion about Whitman

Jonathan Goldenberg

Jonathan Goldenberg ’10, an avid newspaper reader since fifth grade, is thrilled now to have a position writing stories — focusing on a place he thinks most worthy of championing: Whitman College.

“Whitman fully changed my perspective,” said Goldenberg, the newest Medica writing intern, one of five such writing positions funded by alumna, trustee and donor Megan Salzman Medica ’81 and her husband John.

 “Whitman taught me that learning in a school setting can be interesting, exciting and fun,” said Goldenberg, an environmental studies-politics major.

Writing for the Pioneer, Whitman’s student newspaper, was one of Megan Salzman Medica’s favorite activities and in 2009 she parlayed that treasured experience into internship opportunities that offer writing experience and the honing of skills while providing greatly appreciated assistance to their mentors. Three interns work for the local newspaper, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, whose editor has called the interns’ help there a “major boon.” The other two work for the college’s communications office.

“The Medica Writing Internship Program is a win-win-win-win,” said Ruth Wardwell, director of communications. “The student interns learn. Their work helps the staff and the college with communications objectives and projects. Our audiences get the stories and information they want and need. And the donor’s philanthropic vision is realized.”

Goldenberg has replaced Dylan Plung ’11 who is studying abroad spring semester. Plung, before leaving, expressed his thanks in writing for the internship, for “a wonderful semester — I have learned so much and been able to do many things which I never thought were possible thanks to all of your help.”

A strong writer and researcher, Goldenberg hopes to create pieces that further enlighten readers about such aspects of Whitman as experiential learning opportunities on- and off-campus and the increasing and significant role Whitman students have, sharing their knowledge and energies, in service projects to the Walla Walla community.

Goldenberg said he hopes “to delve into the parts of Whitman that have led me to love the school in a deeper way,” and Goldenberg said he thinks what he has “learned about Whitman in these past three years will make for excellent stories and offer a new look on some of the fantastic opportunities afforded by Whitman that may not be obvious to the casual eye.”

He grew up in Boston, Mass. and worked on a variety of service projects including Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans prior to coming to Whitman. Once on campus Goldenberg developed an interest in and intellectual curiosity for immigration politics. In 2008 he founded and ran an academically rigorous, educationally based alternative spring break trip for his peers that focused on migration and immigration in the Pacific Northwest.

The Medicas also fund the Salzman-Medica speech and debate scholarships to honor another of Megan’s favorite Whitman experiences. Last year they made a gift designed to enhance the student journalists in several ways. It established the Pioneer/Medica Visiting Journalist Program, which brings professional journalists to lead workshops for the Pioneer staff, and it also funded the redesign and weekly content management system of the online Pioneer. The Pio’s Web site won national Best of Show honors at the 2009 annual convention of the Associated Collegiate Press.

Other journalism opportunities for students include participating in the college’s annual Hoskoawa Jounalism Contest and learning from respected journalists invited to give talks and workshops on campus. This year’s event, March 4, will include a lecture, “Media as Watchdog: Exposing Corporate Scandal,” given by Bethany McLean, author and contributing editor of Vanity Fair, and a journalist involved in uncovering the Enron scandal.

“The essence of the liberal arts core is fundamental to the field of journalism, which is all about inquiry and expression,” Wardwell said. “Since journalism itself isn’t typically an academic subject at a liberal arts college like Whitman, the opportunities provided by the Medicas and the Hosokawa endowment are invaluable to students who wish to pursue journalism and communications as a profession. In the communications office we love serving as mentors, and we appreciate the angles on storytelling that the students bring.”

— Virginia Grantier