We are so fortunate to be the directors of this wonderful group of students who took part in the 36th annual Multicultural Journalism Workshop this week. Our workshop, held in the UA Department of Journalism and Creative Media on the University of Alabama campus, is one of the oldest programs of its kind in the country. We are proud of our track record of increasing diversity in newsrooms.
 

Students who were accepted into the program this year came to us from across the country (Washington state, Ohio, Texas and New Hampshire), throughout the state (Mobile) and around the corner from schools in Tuscaloosa. Several of the students had not been to Alabama before, and they visited during a tumultuous time of upheaval in the Alabama political and cultural landscape. This piqued their curiosity and, just as any good journalist would react, they did not shy away from covering sensitive, hard-hitting issues.
 

Started in the early 1980s, this workshop’s goal is to increase diversity in America’s newsrooms. We have no doubt this class does, and will do, that with its diversity of thought and reporting.
 

The MJW Class of 2019 is filled with youth activists for various causes and enough energy to make a difference in their surroundings. These students are movers, shakers and
change-makers. We have sincerely loved building relationships with them over the past nine days. We cannot wait to see the impact they make on our community, country and world.