Abby Tonsing | Jan. 24, 2008
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| Photo by Abby Tonsing |
| Assistant professor Mike Conway worked with Bloomington High School North sophomore Claudia Sanchez to report on King Day service projects. |
Adjunct lecturer Scott Burgins and assistant professor Mike Conway joined 30 other volunteers at Bloomington community radio station WFHB to assist with the production of “A King’s Legacy,” a news story compiled by young journalists.
The project paired young journalists with community service projects around the city. Using digital recorders and news scripts, the young reporters asked other children questions about Martin Luther King Jr. Day and diversity. Adult mentors assisted with the process.
In his first effort volunteering for WFHB, Burgins served as a journalism mentor for 6-year-old Templeton Elementary School student Kai Grise. Burgins and Grise traveled from the radio station to cover the the Crestmont Boys & Girls Club project. There, members cleaned up litter and sorted it into recycling bins as part of their service project. They also worked on various art projects, including a “celebrate diversity” banner and paper dolls.
In addition to serving as reporter, Grise lent his voice-over talent at the radio station, reading as the host of “A King’s Legacy.” Grise said he liked playing the role of a journalist better than that of the show’s host.
Burgins, who usually spends the holiday on service projects with his co-workers at Strategic Development Group, said he was inspired to volunteer for the radio station in part because of the Martin Luther King public service announcements the station had aired.
“I think it’s a great program,” he said. “WFHB and the clips they’ve been running, where King says everyone can be great because everyone can serve — very inspiring.”
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| Photo by Abby Tonsing |
| Adjunct lecturer Scott Burgins helped 6-year-old Kai Grise interview Boys & Girls Club members about their project. |
“Kai did a great job, and I thought the kids that Kai spoke to also were amazingly eloquent,” he said.
Though he has been working with WFHB since 2005, Conway had not participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day project until this year. He visited the Shalom Community Center, housed in First United Methodist Church. The Shalom Center hosted a Children’s Health Day, where children received dental work and vision screening, among other health services.
There, Conway met Claudia Sanchez, a 17-year-old sophomore at Bloomington High School North. Originally from Mexico, Sanchez said she moved to the United States when she was seven or eight.
Sanchez, who is bilingual, conducted some of her interviews in Spanish. She said her favorite part of being a journalist was hearing different opinions and answers to her questions. “I think that was important and awesome.”
Conway noted that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is one of the radio station’s busiest news days because of the emphasis of coverage on volunteerism. He responded to a call-out for help from the station.
Conway said volunteerism is a good habit to maintain, not just on the holiday, but year-round, and that Bloomington “is a great city for volunteerism.”
“A community is really based on the people and how they help each other,” he said.
According to Craig Brenner, special projects coordinator of the Community and Family Resources Department for the City of Bloomington, the community-wide program had a record number of 60 service projects this year. Some were conducted on the King holiday while others are still to come, he said in an e-mail.
Of the 60, 39 participating agencies produced and recorded public service announcements for WFHB, also a record number, said news director Chad Carrothers.
