Student Articles
How A VCU Alumni is Fighting Food Insecurity in Richmond By SHSJC Student Deja Hobbs
A 23-year-old woman has added something new to Richmond, a city of rich history and culture: a community refrigerator.
The refrigerator is hard to miss in Union Hill on the corner of Venable and North 21st Street. Drivers slow to a stop and turn their heads to look at the eye-catching brightly painted refrigerator.
The large refrigerator, with “Free Food” written in large letters, is hard to miss.
The inside is just as colorful as the outside. It is stocked with fruits, eggs, milk, and more.
The concept is simple. A list of acceptable items to donate hangs on the outside of the refrigerator. Anyone who desires is able to stock the fridge with these items. On the other hand, anyone in need can simply open its doors, and take whatever they need.
“It’s been stocking itself. Without people donating it wouldn’t be sustainable,” said Taylor Scott who founded RVA Community Refrigerators in October of 2020.
COMMENTARY: Ain’t It the Truth? By SHSJC Student Bria Dickerson
America is at an impasse in crossing the bridge of truth and trust between government, the media and “the people.” As unprecedented political unrest threatens to hijack any semblance of trust and truth in our country, that bridge is not far from collapse.
Recently, Dr. Battinto L. Batts Jr., the Scripps Howard Foundation’s director of journalism strategies, chimed in on the perplexing topic in his National Newspaper Literacy Week comments explaining the news media’s role in preserving democracy and increasing news literacy of news consumers.
“Given the times that we are in, journalism and an appreciation for the facts has taken on even greater significance. Media literacy is a skill that everyone should have, regardless of their politics, to enable them to discern truth from fiction and to promote healthy and educated discourse around policies and events,” Batts said.
What we have lost as a nation over these past four years—and even before that to be totally truthful—is a discernment of truth. The last presidential administration’s 2020 election campaign was debatably stacked with lies, half-truths and false promises—even by some conservative media standards—that motivated and culminated in an insurrection against the United States of America at the Capitol.
News literacy for the people By SHSJC Students Cameron Williams and Miah Cox
2020 was a year of the good, the bad and the ugly when it came to journalism, according to Hampton University educators and professionals.
That makes 2021 the perfect time for Hampton University to take part in the National News Literacy week from Jan. 25 through Jan. 29. The program teaches students to sort out reliable news from “fake news” and to tell what news is important for their lives.
“This public service campaign is crucial right now, especially after witnessing the divisive untruths masked as news,” said B. DĂ Vida Plummer, Dean of Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communication and Hampton University’s Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Media.Â
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