organization spotlight: SCJ

Mercer University’s chapter of Society for Collegiate Journalists (SCJ) works to promote student media on campus by bringing together students from all different media outlets such as The Cluster, Mercer99, The Dulcimer and Mercer Radio. SCJ meets bi-weekly on Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in CTA room 103.
The goal of SCJ is to make the student body more aware of media on campus, and to make different media organizations aware of each other.
Anyone interested in journalism can be a member of Mercer’s SCJ chapter. Membership in the national chapter transfers to the Society for Professional Journalists upon graduation.
SCJ is a national organization comprised of multiple chapters, and Mercer’s chapter began in 2007.
Liz Bibb, SCJ president and Mercer senior, was inducted during her sophomore year. She was the treasurer her junior year.
Once SCJ has this year’s induction ceremony, the organization will have approximately 20 members.
“We had a lot of seniors graduate last year,” said Bibb, and there are many seniors graduating this year.
Bibb said that traditionally, SCJ has been run by The Cluster, a fact SCJ has been working to change. As of right now, all four members of SCJ’s executive board are Cluster editors.
“I’m president, Kaleigh Manson is vice president, Ashley Mann is our secretary, and Brittany Dant is our treasurer,” said Bibb.
Bibb is editor-in-chief of The Cluster, Manson is news editor, Mann is copy editor and Dant is opinions editor.
SCJ has reached out mostly to Mercer99 since Bibb has been at Mercer.
The biggest project SCJ attempted was to acquire a collaborative journalism center for student media. The building would house all the student media outlets under one roof.
While the plans fell through, Bibb admired the way all four organizations worked together to achieve one goal.
Last year, SCJ went to Central High School and talked to students about news writing. They helped a journalism class put their school paper together and gave them layout and story writing tips.
The big project this year is the Biennial National Convention to be held right here on Mercer’s campus March 8th through 10th. Students from SCJ chapters at many other universities around the country will be attending.
Speakers such as Jami Gaudet, who deals with media relations for Macon Police, some faculty members, and someone from the Washington Media Institute will speak on a broad range of media topics.
There will also be tours of the Telegraph, the Allman Brothers Museum and a showing of the movie “All the President’s Men” on Porter Patch.
“We’re really lucky because the national president of Society for Collegiate Journalists is coming to talk to us,” said Bibb.
“The Cluster has been around a lot longer than Mercer99 and Mercer Radio, so I think it’s just more established. The administration is more aware of it. But Mercer99 especially is coming into its own,” said Bibb, and she hopes that after she graduates SCJ can become a more inclusive organization.