When Julia Nicole Craven entered the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill she was eager to start reporting long-form enterprise articles focusing on topics and communities that are underrepresented in the media. She worked as a senior writer and an assistant editor at The Daily Tar Heel, U.N.C.’s student newspaper.
Last summer, Ms. Craven participated in USA Today’s Collegiate Correspondent Program, where college students can pitch and write for the paper’s college website. She said the experience gave her a more extensive understanding of journalism.
“They threw me to the wolves,” she said. “I learned how to convey national news stories to college students.”
After Ms. Craven completed the semester-long USA Today program, she continued writing for the publication. In her latest article, she discussed what the appointment of Dean Baquet as the executive editor of The New York Times means for journalists of color.
Ms. Craven received her degree in international politics from the University of North Carolina this month, and she aims to bring what she learned from her coursework in African, African-American and diaspora studies to the industry.
“I want to provide solid contextual coverage of the places where identity and hard news intersect,” she said. “I want to bring a voice to the media that isn’t white.”
“I want to tell the stories of the people who lay on the margins of society,” she said.
Ms. Craven sees her participation in The New York Times Student Journalism Institute as validation that she has what it takes to become an even better journalist.