Providing opportunities for students in creative fields

When it comes to providing opportunities for hands-on experience, Itawamba Community College has the right idea.

Providing students a chance to work on a feature film like "Mississippi Scholar" is an unusual opportunity for college students, especially at the community college level.

I've noticed a recent (and much-needed) focus on helping students explore trades and careers spanning education, health care, construction, welding, manufacturing and more, but more opportunities should also be available for students seeking careers in creative and artistic fields.

The most formative part of my college experience was a one-semester program that allowed myself and a handful of other students from across the country to study at The King's College in New York City. While there, I took classes and I had an internship at the New York Daily News, writing articles on their national and breaking news team.

If the University of Mississippi hadn't inked an agreement with The King's College, and if program director Paul Glader hadn't come to share information about the New York City Semester of Journalism in one of my classes, I'd never have heard about it, let alone had the opportunity to spend a semester learning in New York.

That, paired with my experience at the student newspaper, the Daily Mississippian, and an internship at the Detroit News, successfully prepared me for a career in journalism.

Sure, going to class is important, but the connections you make and the real-world learning opportunities you receive in high school and college are far more important. We should strive to create more of those for Mississippi students.