Last day of class-Spring 2011

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Daily Hampshire Gazette/Amherst Bulletin Reporter Ben Storrow visits class

By Shamique White

Determination and skill are what helped Ben Storrow, 24, kick start his career as a reporter. He has written many news stories as a Daily Hampshire Gazette staffer. With all of his success at the local newspaper, it’s hard to imagine that Storrow never took a course in journalism.

On April 11, Storrow of the Daily Hampshire Gazette shared his experience as a reporter with the students of a newswriting course at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Storrow spoke about a range of topics including the stories he had written, where he grew up, and his journey into the journalism profession.

“For every boring story, there’s at least two interesting ones,” said Storrow as he spoke about select board meeting he would write stories about.

Although a story might seem small and trivial to the reporter, these are the events in people’s lives which is neither small nor trivial to them. Storrow explained to the class that a reporter should always put the maximum amount of effort in every story he or she writes, no matter how big or small it may seem.

Storrow was given three crime stories involving murder to report. When asked if he got nervous when contacting the victims’ family and friends, he said “Of course.”

The first assignment he was very nervous but when he spoke to them he made clear that he wanted to write a story so that the community can get to see how the victim was viewed by loved ones. He always tried to add dimension to the victims instead of the victim being perceived as another faceless victim.

Storrow has never taken a course in journalism and had zero experience, but wrote some demo news stories to show what he was capable of. Although it did not get him the position he applied for, it did get him a part-time job working for the paper.

Storrow graduated from George Washington University in Washington D.C with a degree in International Relations. After he graduated, he had the longing to return to his home state of Massachusetts. He grew up Gill, in the Amherst area, so it was very near and dear to his heart. His yearning for home made him reconsider what he wanted to do with his life. Storrow always had a knack and passion for writing so he decided to apply for a position at the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

He has been working for the paper for over two years not and does not plan on stopping. “It’s really a lot of fun,” said Storrow, despite the stressful nature of the career. Since childhood, he has always been interested in writing for the National Geographic Magazine but when asked if he wanted to do foreign reporting he said that he was happy writing locally and saw great importance in his work.