Before his second semester English elective senior year, journalism was just something that interested Arthur Ferridge ‘21. English department chair, Mrs. Teresa Jackson, helped Arthur Ferridge find his love for journalism through her senior level journalism elective Journalism Writing. Mrs. Jackson has been crafting writers on Eye Street for a couple of years now. Mrs. Jackson has a special love for journalism, though. In her time at St. Louis University, like Ferridge, she wrote for her university’s school newspaper. Now, she passes down her love for journalism each spring to a new group of students who crave the same love as she does.
“This class was the first proper journalism experience I’ve ever had,” Ferridge said to the students in Journalism Writing when asked about how he first got into Journalism.
Now in his last year at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, Ferridge takes the lead role with the university’s newspaper The Courier, which consists of over 45 volunteer editors and over 295 volunteer writers. Ferridge oversees this 36-page long paper covering 16 sections that is published in print once every two weeks. Newcastle University was not the first school community that benefited from Arthur’s time and effort towards a school newspaper.
During Ferridge’s time on Eye Street, he was a part of the sports broadcasting club. He believes his time and dedication to this club prepared him for his leadership role on The Courier staff atNewcastle.
“Any kind of broadcast experience that you can have before you know going to college and doing it in college… It’s a help. I mean, when you get to college, a lot of people won’t have had any kind of experience,” Ferridge said when asked if his dedication to clubs on Eye Street assisted him in his journalism career now.
Ferridge believes that any prior experience in the journalism or broadcasting field is more valuable than a student might think.
“Any kind of prior experience you can bring, even if it’s just commentating on a football game or something like that you know, it’ll help. […] It goes further than you think it would,” Ferridge said.
Ferridge is headed down the final stretch of his time at Newcastle University. His plans after his graduation in late May are still in flux, but he dreams of being a sports writer in London.