Story developing: Catching up with The Northern Light alumni staffers

On Sept. 19, 1988, the first issue of The Northern Light (TNL) hit the stands - born after UAA and the Anchorage Community College, and their respective student newspapers, merged earlier that year.

Thirty years, 960 issues and hundreds of staffers later, TNL has proven to be an essential training ground for many of Alaska's prominent leaders in journalism, communications and outreach.

"TNL is a learning lab designed to help young journalists gain the skills they need to succeed. I love seeing former employees go on to do great things, like Kim Perry, who is now at the New York Times, or Rosey Robards, who is the president of the Alaska Press Club and director of Alaska Teen Media Institute," shares current TNL executive editor Sam Davenport.

Davenport's own journalism career is off to a quick start. Earlier this year she co-founded quarterly magazine The Spenardian with fellow TNL staffer Victoria Petersen.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, TNL is hosting a week of festivities. Kicking things off was a panel discussion featuring four of the newspaper's many alumni staffers who have gone on to forge remarkable careers.

Rosey Robards

Editor-in-chief, 2001-2005
B.A. Journalism and Public Communications '05
Read her favorite TNL story about RateMyProfessors.com.

Joining TNL was always part of the plan for Rosey Robards. What came as a surprise was becoming editor-in-chief.

"That was something I didn't really see myself doing. I just didn't quite know where my career would take me, but I was really open to things," describes Robards.

She continues, "The position opened up and I said, 'Okay I guess I'm doing this.' It's one of those things where you're 21 years old and managing a newsroom with a staff of 25 people and it's a reality check of what it's like to be a responsible adult. But I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and it really made my college career being part of the staff."

During her senior year, Robards decided to focus on school, resigning as editor-in-chief and becoming a reporter again. Once her journalism peers caught wind of her newfound availability, the floodgates opened up and job offers started rolling in. While she initially stuck to her guns, one offer in particular caught Robards' eye.

"I thought maybe I can do Alaska Teen Media Institute (ATMI) because I was interested in learning radio and they did a ton of that," she recalls. "I couldn't say no to everyone and my mom taught me to not turn down work, so I worked part-time for ATMI while finishing school and I loved it. It was really fun and I was learning as much as I was teaching."

After graduating, Robards took a job at the Anchorage Daily News as an interactive content producer where she generated online content and managed the overnight staff. She realized very quickly that she missed the educational component afforded by her previous position.

"That was a taxing job and I was on call three-to-five days a week. So I was pleasantly surprised when the director position for ATMI opened back up," shares Robards. "I got the job in 2007 as director of ATMI and I haven't quit. I feel the amount of skills I've developed here have surpassed anything I could've done in a daily newsroom where I was set in the grind."

As the director for ATMI, Robards relies on her leadership experience from her TNL days to help high schoolers develop the skills to pursue careers in print, radio and video journalism. Robards estimates that the program sees about 30 students a semester in the studio, in addition to the 200 to 300 students the program assists each semester via in-classroom visits around the state.

On top of her work with ATMI, Robards has also served as president of the Alaska Press Club (APC) since 2013. Founded in 1951, APC is dedicated to the continuing education of Alaska's journalists. The organization is most prominently known for their annual conference and awards celebration which sees around 150 attendees each year.

Despite the cursory differences between ATMI and APC, both organizations excite Robards in the singular way they encourage and develop the journalism community at every level.

"We're in an exciting time right now. I think the whole world is waking up to the need for quality journalism," she says. "There was this negativity around the profession and that's changing and it's exciting to help bring that lens to what they're doing is valuable and people care about it and there's money in it and there's no reason why you shouldn't do what you love."

Thomas McIntyre

Sports editor, 2012-2014
B.A. Journalism and Public Communications '14
Read his favorite TNL story about the San Francisco 49ers.

The path was set for Thomas McIntyre: spend his first couple of years at UAA, finish college in Oregon and become a journalist. Then something happened.

"I realized that the opportunities that were already presented to me at UAA as an underclassman were ones I was going to have to work to get in Oregon," McIntyre explains. "This field especially is all about experience. I made the decision as a student and for my career to come back here and jump on these opportunities."

Upon his return to UAA, McIntyre accepted the position as sports editor at TNL, a role he was already familiar with after doing contract sports reporting during his sophomore year. McIntyre attributes this period for laying the groundwork for him to develop all the essential journalism skills, including accepting criticism, writing efficiently and storytelling effectively.

McIntyre also remembers his run at the paper for applying his sports expertise to create more thoughtful takes on sports reporting.

"I wanted to make it more of a resource for readers, not just that this guy is on this team or this team was going to perform this way," he shares. "I tried to give thoughtful analysis and opinions. That was a big thing for me and that applies to everything I write. I felt like I had a lot to share and TNL made me a lot better at sharing it."

Following graduation, McIntyre spent a year assisting on We Got Nextt, a friend's social media project that provided write-ups and video coverage of high school basketball around Alaska. While going to games and creating content, McIntyre built on the fundamentals he learned at TNL and developed his video production prowess - an essential skill in today's journalism and communications landscape.

"Like any journalism professional you have to develop those things outside of school, outside of the job even," says McIntyre. "But the ability to identify stories and film for 10 hours and weave that footage into something that does tell a story that intrigues and represents what it is you're trying to put out there effectively, that's a skill you develop from writing at a place like TNL."

McIntyre's burgeoning skills came at just the right time. Alaska Communications had posted an opening for a communications specialist, a job one of his old professors thought he'd be perfect for.

At first, the position tasked McIntyre with by-the-numbers internal communications assignments. But over the course of three years, the company learned what he could do and tapped into his talents to create exciting video content, starting with a virtual tour of the Alaska Communications Business Technology Center.

"I'm really proud of where I was able to take the position. I was able to tailor that into something that allowed me to build my portfolio and accurately represent myself as a PR professional," he recalls. "Now I'm working at a place where I'm doing more work that I'm proud of at a rate that I could have never imagined."

That place is Thompson & Co., a PR agency where the abilities McIntyre has been building since his time at TNL can truly shine as a digital content specialist.

"I'm taking these tools and applying them to something I really love," he says. "You can see the transition of me taking on a roll like this throughout the years. I'm just doing what I want to do."

Natasha Price

Features editor, 2003-2005
B.A. Languages '06
Read her favorite TNL story about thrift stores.

Before attending her first journalism class, Natasha Price began her tenure with TNL.

"I remember being at the bookstore and thinking that the book list for my Journalism 101 class was really extensive," recalls Price. "I thought the student newspaper office might be nearby and maybe they'd know if I actually needed to buy all these books. I went to the office and Rosey [Robards] was there. She didn't know if I needed to buy all the books, but she did say that they were looking for writers. I thought, 'You know what? I'm going to give that a try.'"

"It was a good launch point for the rest of my career," she adds.

Since graduating from UAA, Price has parlayed her TNL experience into successful forays in blogging, communications and social media, starting with a position with sports store Skinny Raven where she operated their social media accounts and worked on ad copy.

Around the same time, Price started Alaska Knit Nat, a blog about her passions, including knitting, flowers and cooking. Alaska Knit Nat went on to win a number of awards, including third place as Best Alaska Blog in the 2014 Anchorage Press Picks. Not bad for a blog originally meant to help her keep track of all her projects.

"I started a blog because I can't remember anything," shares Price. "I have recipes, patterns and tutorials, all the stuff that I do but I can't retain that information. I have to look at my own blog all the time to remember."

After leaving Skinny Raven, Price put her talents to use in the nonprofit sector. Her first foray saw Price working with Robards once again as program associate for Spirit of Youth, ATMI's parent organization. Afterward, she took on a position at Anchorage Economic Development Corporation as communications coordinator where one of her main responsibilities was managing the popular I Love Anchorage shared Instagram account.

Today, Price holds a position closer to her journalism roots at Rising Tide Communications, a marketing and PR agency founded by fellow UAA alumna Kate Consenstein. While her formal title is account coordinator, Price prefers the label Jane-of-all-trades, as she's back in a multifaceted role doing everything from copy editing to graphic design.

Price's position at Rising Tide also provides her the flexibility to operate her longtime floral business Paper Peony. Not only is Paper Peony the realization of her high school dream of owning her own flower shop, but it's also the culmination of all of Price's skills as a journalist and communications professional.

"I've learned a lot from owning Paper Peony, like making websites from scratch and social media planning, those are skills I use at Rising Tide. I also use my journalism experience at Paper Peony quite a bit, marketing myself and communicating about my business," she says. "Paper Peony really ties together all of my skills into one huge achievement."

Ammon Swenson

Arts and entertainment editor, 2017
B.A. Journalism and Public Communications '18
Read his favorite TNL story about artist Ray Troll.

Most journalists find themselves working for their college newspaper before graduating and getting a job in the industry. This wasn't the case for Ammon Swenson.

Even though Swenson always suspected that he'd enjoy a career in journalism, it wasn't until he enrolled in a radio news course where he began to actively pursue a degree in the field.

"That class helped me zero in on exactly what I wanted to do: combine news and audio production," shares Swenson. "While I was going to school I was playing in a band, and that was a major part of my life. So the idea of combining writing and playing with audio just clicked. That's what I should be shooting for."

With newfound direction, Swenson began reporting for KRUA 88.1 FM, UAA's student-run radio station. Over the course of one semester, he dived right in and learned everything he could about operating a radio station and eventually took over as news director. This put him in a perfect position to take an internship at Alaska Public Media the following summer.

When his internship ended, Swenson was quickly offered a job with Anchorage Press, taking a break from the radio side of news and getting back into writing. Not long after holding the position did he realize that he was at a crossroad.

"I had a little bit more school left to do but I kept getting sucked into the professional stuff," Swenson says. "I realized that it was time to finish my degree because if I kept going down this road I was going to prioritize work over school."

Back at UAA for his final run, Swenson decided to finally join TNL, a move he had been putting off for some time.

"I always wanted to work for TNL but starting out I was kind of intimidated. I had never been published and I kept second-guessing myself," he recalls. "When I decided to go back to school, I had experience so I wasn't as scared. I didn't want to get done with school without having worked for both student media areas, KRUA and TNL."

Swenson describes being at TNL as feeling right at home. In addition, he attributes learning some of his most valuable journalism lessons to his time at the paper.

"TNL - more than Anchorage Press, KRUA and Alaska Public Media - taught me how to work a beat and find stories," he says. "They weren't right in front of me and I didn't get press releases, so I really needed to wander around and use my feet and my eyes to find stories and that was a huge help to me."

After completing his degree in 2017, Swenson immediately jumped back into where he's most comfortable: the professional world of journalism. Back with Alaska Public Media in an official capacity, Swenson begun to produce shows while continuing to develop his knowledge of broadcast journalism.

Swenson also experienced a recent winning streak at the 2018 Alaska Press Club Conference, having placed first in both Best Arts Reporting for Small Print and Best Science Reporting for Small Print for articles he wrote while still at TNL.

"Awards aren't everything but they sure make you feel good," Swenson jokes.

Written by Matt Jardin, UAA Office of University Advancement