Project Citizen
Since 2019, former CNN anchor and now LMU journalism lecturer Carol Costello and Amy Reynolds, the dean of Communications at Kent State University in Ohio, have collaborated to promote the kind of storytelling that can unify Americans. They established Project Citizen, an umbrella program that includes creative projects that invite students to get out of their university and geographic – if not geopolitical – bubbles for the sake of the country.
E2024
Election 2024 Project: Los Angeles Loyolan and Project Citizen
With yet another “Election of the Century” looming over the United States in November 2024, the Los Angeles Loyolan and Project Citizen are launching an ambitious project to cover the election from college students’ perspective. This project will engage political science students and student storytellers from universities located in diverse parts of the country. These students will collaborate on projects that could ease America’s partisan divide. Students will travel to political rallies, conventions and national newsrooms to report on the Presidential election in 2024. They will use that knowledge to study ways to make our politics less poisonous.
Fall 2022: Project Citizen/Digital Storytelling
We hear about the "big divide," "right wing versus left," and rumors of civil war possibly on the rise constantly. But where does it happen? Student journalists traveled to Shasta County, California to further investigate the reported stories of political violence and voter intimidation. They found there was a lot to uncover, from intimidating “door knockers” and protesters, to threats of bodily harm.
The class was comprised of 13 students majoring in journalism, film and television, communications, or marketing.
Past Projects
Climate360
For the most recent project, they partnered with Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Morgan State University, an HBCU, in Maryland. They worked with LSU Student Media Director Jeff Gauger, LMU Student Media Director, Tom Nelson, LMU Communications Professor Chris Finlay, Morgan State University Journalism Professor ER Shipp, and KSU Student Media Director Kevin Dilley to design a project that would challenge students not just to tell interesting, unbiased stories, but to open their minds and find solutions to our country’s divide.
The students chose to focus on climate change, and were then tasked with creating a professional news start-up that covered the issue in a way that demonstrated how global warming affects all of us – no matter where we live. The result was Climate360.
“This project helped me understand the importance of teamwork when addressing something as daunting as climate change. I learned it’s essential to hear others’ perspectives on the issue because it affects different communities in different ways.”
- Maddie, LMU Senior
“One of the biggest eye-openers for me was how all-encompassing climate change is. By spending my summer covering environmental news, I saw firsthand how it’s one of those topics that spans beats — from health, education, economy, politics, technology, science and even the arts.”
- Ava, LSU Senior
Study America 2019/2020
The first project in 2019 brought students from disparate backgrounds -- in this case, a red state (Ohio/Kent) and a blue state (California/LMU), together, in the same classroom. We challenged 12 (6 LMU, 6 KSU) students to talk about their political differences, the stereotypes each group held about the other, and how those things are dividing our country. The students were asked to produce videos about their first impressions of one another and about stereotypes.
View the videos below.
“We, as a collective class, we can’t just stop here. We have to keep doing this. We have to keep having conversations with different-minded people.” - Quentin, KSU Senior
“One of the most exciting parts about this project was the opportunity to work with other students from across the U.S…We all care about nature; we already are willing to work on a bipartisan basis to protect it…” Veronica, LMU Senior
“[The class] opened my eyes to the fact that I shouldn’t be so quick to think that someone who has different beliefs than mine is going to judge me because of the way I live my life,” said Izzy, an LMU Senior. “That fear of judgement can be just as divisive as the judgement itself because it prevents you from being willing to share your worldview and culture with people who don’t come from the same background.”
“Everybody has to have at least one shared experience or one shared interest.” Olivia, a KSU Junior said. “It’s just taking the time to get to that point [to find it].”
I Hate Your Generation
Our younger population is wielding its progressive political might, freaking out not only Baby Boomers, but also Gen X'ers and older Millennials. The divide between generations only seems to widen as time goes on. The I Hate Your Generation podcast is a timely, semi-unscripted conversation with and between people born in different generations. Listen now >>