New Durham VOICE staff is off and running


Meet the VOICE staff: This fall’s Durham VOICE team took its semi-annual orientation tour Saturday, Sept. 6. Posing for a group shot at the Golden Belt campus, the team includes, front row, left to right: Julie Wells, executive director of Partners for Youth Opportunity; Leah Montgomery, NCCU; Amber Wade, NCCU; Christian Frazier, PYO intern; Destiny Owens, NCCU; Samantha McCormick, UNC; Caitlin Ball, UNC; Zhai Yun Tan, UNC;  Melquan Ganzy, NCCU; Zoe Schaver, print editor, UNC; and Carlton Koonce, Teen Mentoring Coordinator, Partners for Youth Opportunity; second row: Adrienne Stephens, NCCU; Gwen Payne, PYO intern; Chloe Opper, UNC; Natasha Graham, PYO intern; Ayannah Crawley, NCCU; Tara Jeffries, UNC; Kierra Chambers, PYO intern; Jessica Coates, VOICE co-editor, UNC; Quiani Nzazi, NCCU; and Jock Lauterer, founding publisher, UNC; back row: Prof. Bruce DePyssler, founding publisher NCCU; Namdi Nguyen, NCCU; Prof. Shelvia Dancy, publisher, NCCU; Andrew Forrest, UNC; Rob Berges, UNC; Jordan Bailey, UNC; and Dylan Howett, UNC. (Staff photo by Ray Whitehouse)

Meet the VOICE staff: This fall’s Durham VOICE team took its semi-annual orientation tour Saturday, Sept. 6. Posing for a group shot at the Golden Belt campus, the team includes, front row, left to right: Julie Wells, executive director of Partners for Youth Opportunity; Leah Montgomery, NCCU; Amber Wade, NCCU; Christian Frazier, PYO intern; Destiny Owens, NCCU; Samantha McCormick, UNC; Caitlin Ball, UNC; Zhai Yun Tan, UNC; Melquan Ganzy, NCCU; Zoe Schaver, print editor, UNC; and Carlton Koonce, Teen Mentoring Coordinator, Partners for Youth Opportunity; second row: Adrienne Stephens, NCCU; Gwen Payne, PYO intern; Chloe Opper, UNC; Natasha Graham, PYO intern; Ayannah Crawley, NCCU; Tara Jeffries, UNC; Kierra Chambers, PYO intern; Jessica Coates, VOICE co-editor, UNC; Quiani Nzazi, NCCU; and Jock Lauterer, founding publisher, UNC; back row: Prof. Bruce DePyssler, founding publisher NCCU; Namdi Nguyen, NCCU; Prof. Shelvia Dancy, publisher, NCCU; Andrew Forrest, UNC; Rob Berges, UNC; Jordan Bailey, UNC; and Dylan Howett, UNC. (Staff photo by Ray Whitehouse)

Our Community

Our Times

Our Voices

That’s our motto, and we believe in it.

As we begin our fifth year, the Durham VOICE re-affirms our vision statement: That great community media helps build, nurture and sustain great community. And so it follows that we think Northeast Central Durham has those qualities and that potential. We are dedicated to community-building, youth development and civic engagement.

This year’s Durham VOICE staff is a diverse lot, comprised of college journalism students from UNC-Chapel Hill and NC Central, high school students from across Durham participating in the youth-development program Partners for Youth Opportunity, as well as teens from other high schools who want to contribute their writing and/or photography. We launch each new semester with a Durham bus tour, allowing us to meet and greet each other, as well as to get to know the community we are serving. Stops along the way include Joe’s Diner, the Holton Center, SEEDS garden, The Golden Belt complex, Eastway Elementary School, and the new Save-a-Lot grocery store.

As you see our young reporter-phographers out and about in the community, won’t you please welcome them. They — and we — are here to serve you and this community. Together we can make it what Dr. King called “the beloved community.”

— onward and upward!

Jock Lauterer

Founding publisher, UNC-Chapel Hill

jock@email.unc.edu

919-962-6421