Buies Creek, N.C.- Andy Specht dreams of following in the footsteps of Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter Manny Garcia. Recently, the Campbell University senior came closer to that goal when he studied with Garcia and other famous journalists at the World Journalism Institute in New York City, May 10-30.
Located on the campus of The King’s College in Manhattan, The World Journalism Institute is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and prepare Christian journalists to enter the mainstream media rather than Christian media only. The purpose being that working in a newsroom with people of many different persuasions is beneficial to the accuracy and understanding of reporting.
Garcia, the Metro Editor of the Miami Herald, joined Fox News’ Lauren Green, “Paris Review’s” Philip Gourevitch and many other journalism professionals as an instructor for the program whose academic objectives were to improve writing and photography skills as well as learn how to record video and place it on the Internet.
“I would love to be like Manny Garcia, without a doubt,” said Specht. “He helped break the story that exposed fraud in a Miami mayoral race and covered the Elian Gonzalez raid. He and the other instructors at the Institute helped me greatly enhance my skills as a writer and in different areas of media.”
Specht, who is Editor of “The Campbell Times” student newspaper, was one of 20 students accepted to the World Journalism Institute course.
“I loved the course because it was very encouraging,” Specht said. “It also put me in touch with 19 other people who share the same passions, our faith in God and our love for journalism.”
Specht is the son of Virginia Warner of Apex and Tim Specht of Fuquay-Varina. His has a sister Allison Specht, 20, and two brothers, Samuel and Matthew Specht, ages 8 and 12.
Photo Copy: Campbell University student Andrew Specht