Taylor Blatchford

“This program has certainly made me more interested in finding a way to incorporate education into my career as it progresses. I feel more equipped for potential future roles involving training or mentorship. ”

Taylor Blatchford  | M.A. Journalism and Mass Communication

Current job: Engagement Reporter, The Seattle Times

Taylor Blatchford enrolled in Kent State's master's program in journalism education because of her long interest in working with student journalists. "Student journalism provides an essential role in keeping schools and communities informed," she said, "and it's also a great training ground for students entering all sorts of careers, not just journalism. I wanted to learn more about working with students and better equip myself to support them in the future."

A reporter for The Seattle times for over five years, Taylor didn't have an education background before starting this program, and she admits she was intimidated the first time she had to write up lesson plans as a class assignment. "I read through so many templates and guides," she recalled, "and took a long time to fine-tune those first lesson plans. It was a type of writing I'd never done before! I'm proud that through this program, I've pushed myself to learn new skills. The feedback from instructors and support from classmates has been invaluable in my growth."

M.A. Media and Journalism     CCI Graduate Programs

What Taylor loves about journalism is the story telling, with and for the community. In roles that have spanned the paper's digital audience team, investigations team and, most recently, the team covering mental health, she's enjoyed thinking about how journalism can reach people and ensuring that her reporting includes the perspectives of people most affected by the issues she's reporting on.

Advice for future graduate students:

“Think realistically about your bandwidth and how much time you can dedicate to the program each semester. I've taken only one class per semester as I work full-time as a journalist, and making slow but steady progress over the past few years has worked well for me. ”