Meet The Pros

On April 23, 2013 The Pulitzer Center held their Meet The Pros conference at Westchester Community College. The Pulitzer Center helps send reporters to places that need reporting. There're are many places around places around the world that need to be reported in order for the problems to be helped. Thats when the Pulitzer Center comes in and helps. They help people know the crisis that is going on in that area.        

                                                    

Allison Shelley is a journalist who traveled to Nepal to report on the crisis of chaupadi. Chaupadi's are huts where women that are on their period must stay. Their families throw them in these little huts until they are no longer on it. A women is considered dirty when she is on her period. These chaupadi huts are usually the same place where the animals stay. A lot of them are just holes in the ground. The picture to the right shows a 14 year old girl staying in her chaupadi house. A lot of these girls were raped and even killed while staying in these chaupadis.

Melissa Turley attended George Washington University when she won the Pulitzer Center Prize. She was given a chance to travel to a place where she though was under reported. She chose to go to South Africa and report on the gender gap. Women in South Africa face the problems of not being equal to men. Lesbian women are always being targets of hate crimes. These women fear for their lives if anyone realizes that she      is a lesbian. One lady was raped three times by a group of men. She reported the incident to the police every time, but the fact that she a lesbian nothing was ever done. These women start losing hope when no one listens. There is now a LGBTI community that holds meeting to help lesbian women deal with these problems. 

Devon Smith is the first student at Westchester Community College to win the Pulitzer Center Prize. She will get the chance as Melissa Turley did to travel to a place that needs to be reported on. She has chosen to travel to Ireland to report on two religions, Catholics and Protestants. She will report on how these two religions are faced with problems. Good luck Devon! 

A Glance at the Pros

        On April 25th, 2013, Westchester Community College held its annual Meet The Pros event.  This years event with the Pros was International Reporting: Women & Children in Crisis, and featured both a professional journalist and a student journalist sponsored by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

        This year's event featured Melissa Turley, a student journalist reporting from South Africa, and Allison Shelley, a photo-journalist reporting from around the world, with a heavy focus on Nepal for this event.  Also present was Devon Smith, Westchester Community College's first sponsored International Reporting Fellow Student, to speak about her upcoming trip to Northern Ireland.

                                                        Melissa Turley was the 2012 Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium International Reporting Fellow Student from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  Choosing to travel to South Africa alone, she learned much from the female community and how they are repressed and stigmatized in many ways.  Women of color are still treated as second-class citizens in many parts of South Africa, and if they are a part of the LGBT community, it stigmatizes them further, opening them up to many accounts of domestic violence that the government turns a blind eye to, such as raping a lesbian to make her 'straight'.  Rural village women have to fight for basic rights, and while they rarely make legislative headway, they never give up the fight, which is to be admired from Melissa's perspective.

        Allison Shelley, a documentary photo-journalist, traveled among Haiti, India and Nepal since 2010.  Within that timeframe she learned a great deal about how women abroad are treated within their culture, especially when it comes to sensitive issues such as teen pregnancy, or in Nepal's case, having a period.  Nepal's tradition of Chaupadi, where women having a period are pushed into isolation, was Allison's main focal point at the event.   The pictures and stories she found of Chaupadi across Nepal showcase a wide array of situations, some being where the girls were put into the same sheds outside the house as the animals, and others where the family had a special room set aside for them.

    It was a time of isolation from others and the house, and this tradition is ingrained in Nepalese culture, with the more rural areas practicing a much stricter form.  Though she did find that some families did not want to send their loved ones out of the house into isolation during their period, they felt bound by tradition to do it.  Yet while some families could afford decent housing for the girls during Chaupadi, most of the time they have to stay with animals in a simple shed, leading to many problems in the cold Himalayans.

        Near the end of the event, Devon Smith was called up to give a brief summary of her upcoming trip to Northern Ireland.  She spoke briefly, but she chose Northern Ireland because she felt the conflict between Ireland, controlled by the Irish, and Northern Ireland, controlled by the British, was still an under reported crisis, even if they publicly made amends.  There is still much segregation among the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, which causes a large divide, and she is going to report on the subject this year.  She is the first student to be sponsored from Westchester Community College.

        The Pulitzer Center is known for its bold initiative in sponsoring student journalists to venture out and report on a crisis that may be under the national scope, and this year is proud to include Westchester Community College among the national college and universities where student journalists are sponsored from.  WCC is the first community college nationally to be sponsored by the Pulitzer Center.


        For more information on the works of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, these stories and more, visit http://pulitzercenter.org/.

Meet the Pros Event gives students a deeper view of overseas reporting

   On April 23rd students of Westchester Community College were givin a chance to to get a glimpse of the world of overseas reporting. Melissa Turley and Allison Shelley visited WCC to bith talk about thier experiences overseas and to help give students an idea of what it takes to become a reporter.

  Melissa Turley a graduate of George Washington University talked about her time in South Africa where she reported on the struggles of women there to gain equal rights. "I  was surprised." Meliisa said. "These women are telling me these horrible stories like there normal everyday things and It's like this is a completly different world then where I'm from." In South Africa woman are unable to get abortions are very oftem victims of abuse or rape and and are attacked for being homosexual. Melissa spent a lot of time with the Rural Womans Movement in South Africa who are working to correct some of these injustices.


   The other speaker at the event was Allison Shelley who had went to Nepal to report on mistreatment of women there. In Nepal a women must live outside of thier home in a small mud hut during menstration because during that time they are seen as "unclean". Allison also talked about hat it took to become a successful reporter. "Get your stories read." and "Find someone to mentor you." seemed to be her two biggest points.

    Students overall seemed to be very impressed by the event and the two guest speakers. "It takes a lot of courage and self-control to go over there and just report on the facts and not get involved. I give them a lot of credit for that." said Liz Malloy a student at WCC. The WCC faculty seemed to be impressed aswell as said by Don Gregory pointed out about the event "It made feel like we could all be doing so much more."

Meet the Pros Event

Recently, our class was given the opportunity 

to here from speakers Allison Shelly 

and Melissa Turley regarding their 

experiences in South Africa and Haiti.
http://pulitzercenter.org/

The Pulitzer Center is a very well known organization who report on worldwide crisis, specifically crises that are often ignored. On April 26th, 2013 Westchester Community College students were given the opportunity to hear the inspirational stories from speakers Melissa Turley and Allison Shelley.

Melissa Turley adventured to South Africa as a Pulitzer Consort International reporting student from George Washington University. Before South Africa Melissa also interned at the Department of State where she would then focus on projects concerning the expansion of women's rights along with gender equality. Allison Shelley, the other speaker was a documentary photographer and multimedia creator for  The Washington Times. Some of her photos have been featured in TIMES magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many others. Currently Allison is now a freelancer focusing mainly on health issues regarding young women.

With Shelley's photography and multimedia backgrund she took on a project called, "Out of the Sheds: Women Fight Segregation in Rural Nepal." This focued on Nepalese custom which isolates during menstration. Turley traveled to South Africa for her project, "Closing the Gender Gap in South Africa." Her main objective was to report on violence against South African women.

Shelley and Turley discussed their projects and work along with a Q & A session for students following their presentation. Students were also given the chance for a behind the scenes look into the life of a journalist overseas.

Meet The Pros Event

On Thursday April 25, Westchester Community College held its annual “ Meet the Pros” event at their main campus. This event allowed two journalists Allison Shelley and Melissa Turley to speak upon their experience. Both journalists traveled around the world to learn about crisis that many of us are not aware, also to educate the United States on those crises. Allison Shelley and Melissa Turley are two Pulitzer Center journalists.

           

Melissa Turley

Melissa Turley reported from South Africa as the 2012 Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium International Reporting Student Fellow from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Melissa traveled to South Africa and reported on women right. These rights included violence, LGBT, and women being abused. Men rape women that are homosexuals and believe they can turn them “straight”. Law enforcement is not as helpful as they should be to these women. On the other hand, that still does not stop certain women to keep fighting for their rights.

Allison Shelley

Allison Shelley is a documentary photographer and multimedia creator. Allison was a former staff photographer for the Washington Times. Allison traveled to Haiti in 2010 and Nepal. However, Shelley focused her presentation more on Nepal. She reported on the abuse of young girls in Nepal. In India girls are forced to be married as young as 12 years old, and forced to have children. When the girls are menstruating cycling they are forced to sleep in this hut where animals are kept.

Devon Smith

Devon Smith was the first Westchester Community College student to win a Pulitzer Center grant. Devon will be traveling to Ireland to cover a story on the conflict between the two different religion Catholics and Protestant. Devon explained how serious religion is taken in Ireland. She will report on the violence and why segregation is so controversial in Ireland.  

At the end of the presentation all three of the young ladies sat down to answer question that the audience asked. They also had a meet and greet where students interview all three ladies Allison, Melissa and Devon. During the meet and greet it allowed students to ask question as well as faculty. All three ladies did a remarkable job when delivering their story. During the presentation all ladies had the audience full attention. All three stories were touching and open many hearts.

For more information visit:

http://pulitzercenter.org/

Meet the Pros: Uncovering the Story

          On April 25th, 2013, Westchester Community College held its 15th annual "Meet the Pros" event where two esteemed reporters from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting offered the privilege to interview, question and learn about their "first-hand experience" on the gender gap in South Africa, Chaupadi and Nepali. Seeing the gap through the photography of Allison Shelley, and hearing of the crime and isolation against women from Melissa Turley paints a vivid image of the injustices that people face on a daily basis in the areas they have visited.

          Melissa Turley, a Fellowship Reporter from The George Washington University, is an accomplished part of her school community, as well as a proud part of many other teams and projects. As an editor of The GW Hatchet, a student-run campus newspaper, as well as a director for her documentary "Microbreweries, Maximum Sustainability," taking on a journey to report the gender gap in South Africa seemed to be a great idea for someone ready to make a difference and bring things to the public's attention.
"If a woman brings a case to court she cannot set foot in the courthouse. A man must represent her."
The opening line in her article is a statement that explains what women go through to live in South Africa. Not only did she make life-long relationships with these people, she learned things that would shock Americans to even fathom an idea, but to Africa, is a normal everyday thing to everyone. Women are being mistreated but not just discrimination, but crimes such as rape and murder are common occurrences done JUST BECAUSE the women are "different."
          Melissa also met organizations working for the greater good of women, such as the Rural Women's Movement (RWM). These people are all working to help equalize women and stop the injustices, and even though before this she might not have known about the injustices, many people can thank her for putting the word out there about the inequality going on in South Africa.

          Allison Shelley is a Fellowship Reporter and photographer, who brings her stories to life by helping people experience the story not just with their ears, but their eyes and heart. As a former photographer for the Washington Times, she decided to take her experience to Haiti, and the sovereign state of Nepal, where women are not only being mistreated, but being seen as "dirty" and "unclean" because of something that they cannot help. Women are forced to stay in exile during their menstrual cycle, which is called "chaupadi." Such a thing is inexcusable in America but in Nepal is widely accepted. In certain cases, it was seen as necessary. In one of the cases she talked about, a man decided to let his daughter in the house and she was struck with paralysis, but as soon as he sent her back into exile, she recovered fully.
          While there may, or may not be a force watching over the people, making sure ritual behavior is followed, their definitely is a force that is noticing this. That force was Allison. She endured the non-safe conditions of Haiti and Nepal, and traveled for many hours per day to keep up with these families, and learn these customs. Through her pictures, she showed and almost had people feeling the experience, and one could not imagine a dry eye or cement heart when listening to the issues of these neglected, and exiled women.

          Both of these reporters opened the eyes and hearts of Americans, and through the Pulitzer Center, hopefully made a difference to these people. To follow along and learn more about what they've seen, please visit the links below courtesy of the Pulitzer Center:

http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/south-africa-gender-inequality-womens-rights-poverty-justice-democracy

http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/nepal-cultural-practice-women-childbirth-maternal-mortality-chaupadi

Pulitzer Center For Crisis Reporting Visits Westchester Community College

On April 23rd, students of Westchester Community College were given the privilege of attending a seminar with two journalists from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.  The Pulitzer Center mainly focuses on reporting stories that go widely unnoticed by most public news sources, as well as giving grants to students who wish to bring developing stories into the eye of the public.  Melissa Turley, a graduate of George Washington University, was one of these students.  Through a grant awarded by the Pulitzer Center, Turley was able to travel to South Africa in order to report on the issues of women and their fight to empower sex workers and victims of abuse, despite facing a judicial system that does not always favor them.

This is the second of what will hopefully be many more presentations made by the Pulitzer Center at Westchester Community College, the first community college to be a part of the Campus Consortium program.