{"id":12628,"date":"2023-10-02T12:09:17","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T16:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/?p=12628"},"modified":"2023-10-03T11:10:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T15:10:31","slug":"a-trip-to-ona23-with-casey-chan-smutko-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/news\/2023\/10\/02\/a-trip-to-ona23-with-casey-chan-smutko-26\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trip to ONA23 with Casey Chan-Smutko ’26"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Casey Chan-Smutko ’26, a <\/span>journalism<\/b><\/a> major, attending the 2023 <\/span>Online News Association<\/b><\/a> (ONA) Conference was invaluable in her growth as a journalist. The trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was funded by the <\/span>Harrington RhodyNow Fund<\/b><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Chan-Smutko first learned about the opportunity from the Good Five Cent Cigar, where she is a news editor, and applied for a Students & New Professionals Scholarship from ONA. She received the scholarship, which awarded her a pass to the conference. The Harrington School paid for the rest of the expenses for the trip. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I was also relieved that I got help because I was looking at how much everything cost, and I thought, I’m not sure how I could pay that for myself,” Chan-Smutko said. “Harrington not only covered the travel and hotel but also provided me with a stipend for food.”<\/span><\/p>\n

During the conference, she spent most of her time working in the Student Newsroom, where students were paired with a mentor who guided them in writing a variety of stories. While working in the newsroom, an early morning fire alarm provided an opportunity for Chan-Smutko to cover some breaking news. <\/span><\/p>\n

“At 6 a.m. on Friday, a hotel alarm went off,” Chan-Smutko said. “The alarm was right next to my bed, so I woke up in a panic, thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ I immediately texted the Student Newsroom group chat and said I wanted to cover the fire alarm going off. I’d never covered a breaking story like that before.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Chan-Smutko also had the chance to attend panels and sessions that covered a wide variety of topics, including diversity in the newsroom, time management, and more. At these events, Chan-Smutko was able to network with her peers and professional journalists. <\/span><\/p>\n

” There were 19 other students [in the Student Newsroom], and we bonded quickly,” she said. “We have still been talking. It’s just been great. We have great communication and learned a lot from each other.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back on the conference, Chan-Smutko said she gained much from the experience. She learned to be a better writer and gained valuable professional insights. She says the conference made her passion for journalism grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I can’t believe I was offered this experience,” Chan-Smutko said.. “I had a wonderful experience, and I’ve learned so much from it. Now, I know I definitely want to be in the journalism industry.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Experiential learning and networking opportunities can be transformative experiences in a student’s college career. Through the support of our donors, the Harrington School provides financial assistance for internships, conferences, and networking events. Support our students with a donation to the <\/span><\/i>Harrington RhodyNow Fund<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Casey Chan-Smutko ’26, a journalism major, attending the 2023 Online News Association (ONA) Conference was invaluable in her growth as a journalist. The trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was funded by the Harrington RhodyNow Fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4952,"featured_media":12630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-student-profile"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4952"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12628"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12660,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12628\/revisions\/12660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/harrington\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}