Student will attend American Indian Journalism Institute this summer

Candace Begody, a sophomore journalism major, will take part in a summer internship program for Native American college students June 3-22 at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, sponsored by the American Indian Journalism Institute.

AIJI, according to its Web site, offers journalism training and summer internship programs that enable Native American students to take journalism courses for college credit at the Freedom Forum's Al Neuharth Media Center on the University of South Dakota's Vermillion campus.

Top AIJI graduates will be hired for six-week paid internships as reporters, copy editors, photographers and multi-media journalists at daily newspapers and with The Associated Press beginning about July 1.

Begody has accepted the first half of the internship, but will be competing for a chance at the six-week pain internship in the Southwest following the forum. She is a native of Ganado, Ariz., which is on the Navajo Reservation.

In summer 2006, she interned with the Navajo Times, primarily covering sports. In addition to obtaining a journalism degree, Begody hopes to minor in American Indian Studies.

Begody hopes to "inform my people about issues, not only on the reservation but across the nation and world as well, so that they can make decisions in order to move our nation forward, as a whole and along with the rest of the world, but still maintaining our cultural values.

"I also hope to inform people on issues concerning Native people whether it is about heath care, education, politics, our cultural values, and other affairs."

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