By Scott White
Community Liaison
Report for America corps member
REPORT FOR AMERICA’s Executive Director Kim Kleman, a renowned journalist before joining RFA, with Scott White. Kleman’s mother has a good friend in Naples who told Kleman, who was in town for a visit, how much she loved her hometown newspaper and promptly gave her a recent edition of the Sun, which Kleman presented back to White at the RFA Conference in New Orleans in August. (Photo by RFA)
THE 2025-2026 WCHS JOURNALISM CLASS presented Renee Boss, their teacher, with framed copies of all their stories that the Sun printed last year. Boss hung them in the classroom and looks forward to adding this year’s class stories to the collection. (Photo by Abigail Caine)
New Orleans in August? Now, that doesn’t sound like fun.
There is a reason the city nearly shuts down that month every year. The heat and humidity are, truly, unbearable. World-famous restaurants close due to the lack of tourists and conventions. Jazz headliners give the stages over to locals. The French Quarter resembles a ghost town.
That said, I was there from Aug. 19 to 22, attending the biennial Report for America (RFA) National Conference. And . . . I had a ball, mainly from hanging out with 120-plus young journalists on fire for their profession as guardians of a free press, and covering their communities so that they are informed by journalism premised on sound principles.
Perhaps given that RFA is a nonprofit with the purpose of serving under-reported areas and groups explains why NOLA was chosen . . . discounted convention rates!
Regardless of the location, the conference was a unique opportunity for young journalists—and “new old journalists” like me—to gather, learn, share and develop new relationships . . . all with the shared goal of serving the public with good, solid journalism. The kind that informs, educates and celebrates America and its communities with all its people in all their myriad and mystic iterations.
As I wrote in my last column, the Sun’s participation in the RFA project is our first tangible, public expression of our new nonprofit status—and we are proud we were selected to be part of the program.
As I explained, RFA selects about 120 “corps members” a year, nearly all recent journalism grads, and places them with nonprofit newsrooms who are serving in news deserts or underserved populations. But the Sun’s participation is different – we are in a pilot program where folks who are already a part of their community, but are without journalism training, like me, go through an intense, weekly two-year program while working in the newsroom, which I’ve been doing since March.
NOLA in August was a part of this pilot program.
I attended two classes on how to use complex data generated by federal and state agencies to understand national trends and stories to better tell how those trends impact Woodford County.
A good example is the reporting we have been doing on the construction of data centers or how the use of tariffs as a trade tool by the current administration impacts our local economy, from bourbon to cattle to soybean production.
I attended a class on reporting in small, rural localities where everyone knows each other. It is no secret I am from here, and have known some of the current field of candidates, or their relations, for decades. I am familiar with many of the issues we are confronting; some have been going on for decades. So, how do I, who you rely on to be impartial, fair and honest, gain your trust in my reporting?
I heard practical, yet rousing, keynote speeches by the co-host of NPR’s Fresh Air, Tonya Mosley, and brothers Dean and Terry Baquet, both NOLA natives, with one staying home to work at the legendary New Orleans Times-Picayune and the other at both the Los Angeles Times and New York Times, and who’ve each won a Pulitzer Prize. All shared their experiences of local reporting before moving onto larger stages.
Speaking to Terry during a break (we have a mutually close friend who was a neighborhood reporter and editor at the Picayune), he inspired me with a “you aren’t too old for this” talk, and shared stories about his new newsroom, which is also partnering with RFA and using nontraditional reporters.
As we roll into this election cycle where the Sun has joined with the Farm Bureau and the two county political parties to sponsor a series of candidate forums, I am even more convinced of the need for the Sun to inform you of the issues and people that matter— the ones that will animate your voting decisions. And then, after the votes are counted, how we at the Sun will continue to earn your trust covering local government and everything else we report on.
Part of that, I think, is for the people working at the Sun to be the best that they can be. Bob Vlach was just recognized for his commitment and excellence with his selection to the WCPS Hall of Fame. And, thanks in part to RFA, I, and others here, will continue to sharpen the tools needed to do this job.
WCHS Journalism Class – Year 4
Last Monday, Helen Rentch, a member of the Sun’s Advisory Committee, and I met with Renee Boss’ 2026-2027 Journalism Class at the high school for this year.
Count us IMPRESSED!
This is the fourth year the Sun will be working with Boss’ class to publish student-authored, edited and photographed stories. We have grown from five stories in year one to 14 published last year. The goal is simple: to tap into the rich talent pool of high school students who have an interest in journalism and to encourage their interest and talents by publishing their stories in their local newspaper.
For a reporter, there is nothing quite like seeing your byline in a published story in a print newspaper.
Last year’s class told lots of stories, including ones about an ICE protest, FFA member projects, issues percolating at the school and more.
We cannot wait to see what they write about this year. One thing I can tell you – it will be interesting, and many will be fun reads.
One new topic we are hoping some of the students pick up on is equine-related stories. Toward this goal, Helen is heading up an effort by the Advisory Committee to obtain a grant for a college journalism intern to write stories about the Woodford County equine industry.
Not only is the equine story being under-told by us, but with the Lexington Herald-Leader and Louisville Courier Journal giving up on dedicated turf writers, the field is being left to industry publications like the Bloodhorse or Horseman and Fair World. Though the Sun will never be a specialty publication, we recognize it needs to regularly report on and tell the stories of the Thoroughbred, Standardbred, Saddlebred, show horses, jumpers, etc., which have been here for 200 years.
It is mine and Helen’s hope that some of the WCHS students pick up on this and tell some of these stories from their own perspective. Just in this year’s class, there were four students with ties to the horse industry.
Regardless of what they write on, I think you will, again this year, enjoy what they write for us. And I am going to have a blast.