Come to Spain and develop your reporting and story-telling skills in a newsroom environment! On this program, you will professionalize your journalistic skills in interviewing and news reporting, from the art of posing questions to the critical task of listening actively and creatively to answers. Faculty leader Peter Laufer is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who will teach two courses on the program with a focus on interviewing and developing stories across cultural differences and linguistic barriers.
“Finding the news that exists – breaking and hidden – in the places, people and events that surround us mandates that we engage – no matter our personal backgrounds – multiple voices, diverse points of view and a wide variety of cultural experiences.” – Professor Laufer
As a final project on the program, you will develop and report on a feature story in a newsroom. Your feature story will be reviewed and edited as part of the class, with the goal of publication.
By the end of the term, you should be able to:
- identify high-value interviewees
- defy gatekeepers to arrange interviews
- successfully interrogate interviewees (even those recalcitrant or media-trained)
- take accurate notes with or without recording devices
- integrate interviews into narrative prose
- defend your work to critiques from unhappy interviewees
**GEO programs are under continuous review during this period of global uncertainty and limited travel. All program details outlined on this page, including program cost, are subject to change if global or location-specific conditions require modifications to program structure.
Insights from program alumni:
Click here to check out what past students on the program had to say about their unique jounalistic opportunities in Spain. Click here to hear from Faculty Leader Peter Laufer.
The program is based in Oviedo, Spain. Students on the program will travel as a group to Segovia, Spain and use the city as a comparative study to Oviedo in the context of the two program courses. If you wish to also study Spanish, you may enroll for the second summer session of Spanish Language in Oviedo and extend your stay in Spain for four extra weeks.
Oviedo is just 23 miles from Spain’s northern “green coast” and is an important stopover point on the Camino de Santiago. The city has an urban design which promotes equity and inclusion in historic sites, public squares, car-free livable streets and a culture public gathering places, sidewalk cafes, markets and bars. The hospitality and warmth of the Asturian people coupled with the absence of mass tourism makes Oviedo a perfect setting for this program. Program activities will included visits in and around Oviedo and an excursion to Porto, Portugal.
Program Scholarship:
This program will award two scholarships of $1200 each.
To be considered for a scholarship, applicants must complete the program application, which includes a scholarship essay, by the program's application deadline. Scholarship recipients will then be selected based on financial need, academic merit, and overall quality of their application.