I’d like to take some time this week to introduce a new
partnership that The Tribune has struck up recently.
It’s no secret that the United States Air Force Academy is home
to some of the brightest and most intellectual young minds that
this country has to offer. A lot of us take great pride in the fact
that we are right next door to the academy and we are very proud of
the commitment and sacrifice that these young men and women sign up
for in order to protect each of us and our country.
The drive and motivation that these young students possess is
beyond impressive and it is important to remember that it takes an
awful lot at that age, with opportunity calling from every
direction, to make the decision to put country first and commit
oneself to serving. Of course, a world-class education, like the
one offered at the academy would be mighty hard to turn down.
That said, when USAFA English Professor Stephen Rabey reached
out to me earlier this year about the possibility of conducting a
cadet journalism project with one of his classes and The Tribune I
leapt at the chance.
The idea was a rough one at first, but he thought to help mix
things up in his classroom a little bit, it would be fun if he
could grant his students the opportunity to publish their work in
the local community paper.
We exchanged a few emails, had a couple phone conversations and
I was quickly sold on his idea.
He then introduced the project to his class and welcomed me to
the academy to run his show for a day.
When I met him for lunch before leading his class we were still
not 100 percent certain what direction the project would go in or
how things would unfold exactly.
Professor Rabey had assigned his students to each bring three
story ideas to the class that day and my role was to conduct a mock
editorial meeting with them, discussing story ideas with each
student, shooting some down, accepting some, and working with the
cadets to make at least one idea work as a good story for the paper
for each of them.
Over lunch Professor Rabey and I came up with a number of story
ideas that would give the community a unique perspective from a
cadet’s mind, while also being relevant, localized and newsworthy.
We figured we should do this in the event that his students, all
first-year cadets, did not bring in a great enough array of
ideas.
To the pleasure of each of us, despite some of the topics that
had been discussed at lunch also being pitched by the students, I
never once had to refer to that list. There were, of course, a
couple students that went too national in scope for a local
community paper, and there were others, who by the time I got to
them, had hear all of their ideas pitched already. But between all
of them there were enough unique story ideas that we could have
each cadet write on a different topic or work together on a topic
that required more depth such as some of the issues and changes
with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
When the class concluded, Professor Rabey and I discussed me
returning to go over a few of the stories with the students after
they had a chance to write them. So this past week, accompanied, as
I was the first time as well, by USAFA Public Affairs Officer John
Van Winkle — who answered questions on military protocol with the
students and helped the students get in touch with some of their
sources — I played editor for the class so that we could start
getting some assignments into the paper.
Now that the project is officially underway, over the next few
months you will have the chance to read some very well-written
pieces on topics ranging from internal academy views of some of the
present-day foreign conflicts to the downsizing of the cadet wing
to the role of the academy prep school, as well as more localized
stories on such topics that effect everyday Coloradans like our
dwindling water supply and the academy’s ongoing solar research
projects.
I hope you will each take the time to enjoy the unique
perspective offered by these great, young minds as our future
leaders try their hand at journalism and present us with a view of
the academy from the inside out.