Eight students from the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism & New Media spent the first two weeks of January in an intercession class focused on reporting about state government and public policy issues.

The class, led by Meek journalism professor LaReeca Rucker and Mississippi Today Co-editor Fred Anklam Jr., included several days each week in Jackson covering activities at the Capitol and interviewing leading state officials. The course was held in conjunction with the Mississippi Press Association, of which Mississippi Today is a digital affiliate.

The course is designed to give students a firsthand experience in both the daily and long term responsibilities of covering state government and issues impacting the state. Students chose topics of interest to focus a major story on but also were in the Capitol to observe other activities such as the Mississippi Economic Council’s Capital Day.

The Meek School, the Mississippi Press Association and Mississippi Today thank Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, Attorney General Jim Hood and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and their staffs for arranging time for the class to meet with each of them for interviews that allowed the students to gain better understanding of their priorities for Mississippi.

Mississippi Press Association members are free to run the stories written by the students by accessing the links provided here. Additional stories and profiles of the students are available at https://oxfordstories.net/.