Journalism students interested in newspaper and magazine careers seek opportunities in courses to help them succeed. Although nearly all journalism classes give students practical experience, there is one that stands out in particular.

JLMC 449X, taught by Angela Renkoski, temporary instructor of journalism and mass communication, gives students practical knowledge in creating publications.

The course, still in its experimental stage, has completed two semesters and is set to begin its third this spring. After completion, it will become a regular part of the curriculum at ISU.

Marcia Prior-Miller, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, was the originator of the class. After it was approved by the curriculum committee, Prior-Miller left on sabbatical, and Renkoski took the class under her direction.

The course, which has doubled in size each semester it has been offered, gives students interested in magazines and newspapers an opportunity to explore all parts of the business and how they relate to each other, Renkoski said.

“It’s a really challenging class because it covers a lot of ground, but they learn a whole lot,” she said. “They have a good working knowledge of the whole picture.”

Each student in the course is in charge of creating his or her own newspaper, magazine or news supplement. Projects in the past have included a business magazine for disc jockeys, a magazine for youth with arthritis and a health supplement.

Luke DeKoster, senior in journalism mass communication, put his project to use at his hometown paper in Hull. DeKoster was hired by the Sioux County Index-Reporter to redesign the newspaper.

“[The class] has value,” DeKoster said. “Everything I learned in there was new to me.”

The class was originally incorporated into JLMC 341, but it was too much for students to handle in one course, Prior-Miller said. So, she created 449X to give them a greater opportunity to explore how magazines and newspapers are operated.

“What we hope they get out of [the class] is some insight into their own creativity and how to get it into people’s hands,” said Prior-Miller.

Although the course only meets twice a week, it requires a lot of time spent outside of class on individual projects, DeKoster said.

“I think it came out to a total of 100 to 150 hours total for the semester, including class time,” he said.

The course covers a wide variety of topics including profits, costs, budgets, advertising, circulation and design elements. It gives students a taste of every aspect that goes into a magazine or newspaper, Renkoski said.

Melanie Van Hoeck, senior in journalism and mass communication, was more interested in tapping into her creative side than in learning about business.

“I liked the magazine and design portion of it where I got to think up editorial ideas for my project, but we had to do a business part of it, and that took up more of my time and energy than I wanted it to,” she said.