Teens in Print reached out to more alumni to hear about what they are doing in their careers post-program. TiP aims to support student writing beyond teaching grammar rules and the inverted pyramid. The goal is to give students a space to grow with their writing and encourage them to find their voices and invigorate a passion for journalism.
Our next TiP Alumni Spotlight is on Jesse Correll, a former TiPster who attended SJI during 2018 and 2019.
What are you doing after programming/college?
Jesse Correll: I just graduated this June with a journalism degree from Concordia University. Since then, I have been working as an Independent Contractor across several content-related industries. Simultaneously, I have a part-time job editing articles for my old school’s academic journal. Finally, I have been independently publishing my own journalism content about a range of topics.
How did you get started in what you are doing?
JC: I have several publications with several other outlets, but recently I have been self-publishing my own content on my website and other platforms for writers, such as Medium. This ultimately began because I had a breaking news article about the tariffs, which included a great interview with someone from Statistics Canada. The time was right to release it, but most of the publications I pitched it to were already working on their own stories about tariffs, and I was ultimately rejected. Since then, I have realized that self-publishing gives me a lot more freedom in what I write about, how I write about it, and when. It also gives me the opportunity to build my own platform and audience.
Why are you doing what you do?
JC: The reason I’m not working professionally as a journalist is because I currently live in Montreal and there are certain barriers to getting into the industry here, including full French fluency. So I am working on the journalism stuff mostly for myself, but also because there is a lot of interesting stuff going on, which people should know about. Certainly, I was inspired by my time with WriteBoston [now WordPowered]/TiP, my internship came at a time in my life where I had little to no direction, journalism and the pursuit of truth gave it to me. That also played a major role in my choice to major in journalism.
What are you looking forward to? (Anything upcoming? Anything that you are currently working on?)
JC: Yes, I plan to release 3 articles this month. The first is breaking down The Dead Internet Theory, then one on common scams found on LinkedIn. These will each peel back layers and lead into a third where a colleague and I will expose a deeper conspiracy, which begins on LinkedIn but extends much further, potentially into crime.
You can read more of Jesse’s work here.