NYT journalist Hogan ’22 inspires W&M’s Sharp Seminar students

New York Times video journalist Claire Hogan ’22 returned to campus to moderate this year’s Sharp Journalism Seminar showcase held in Blow Hall’s Grimsley Board Room March 27. 
 
A former editor-in-chief of The Flat Hat and production intern for Science Magazine, Hogan has honed her craft in the journalism field for over five years, including through her own participation in the 2019-20 Sharp Seminar, a partnership between the Charles Center and the DC-based Pulitzer Center.

This assignment—to interview the next generation of William & Mary storytellers—brought Hogan back to campus for the first time since graduation.   
 
Hogan moderated two panels, each of which featured six Sharp students who traveled the globe — from New Zealand to Slovakia to Hawaii — reporting on stories for the year-long seminar.
 
“I hoped to talk a little bit about how important journalism is, especially when press freedoms are under attack, and how newsrooms can reach audiences in new and interesting ways,” Hogan said. “But mostly I wanted to highlight the incredible work that these students have done: producing journalism at a professional level while they’re still undergraduates.” 
 
The showcase was attended by professors, fellow students, and Anne Sharp ’82 who, with husband Barry Sharp, sponsor the Sharp Seminar as well as a new Charles Center writer-in-residence program launching this fall in collaboration with the department of English.  
 
Hogan asked each of this year’s seminar students to share challenges and surprises they experienced during their reporting journeys. 
 
Sophomore Maddie Mohamadi, an American studies and economics double major, explored how members of the Gullah community of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, have responded to recent policies designed to support them.  
 
Mohamadi said that the experience solidified her desire to pursue a career in journalism.  
 
“My favorite part of the event was learning about my peers’ travels and interviews. I was so impressed by their story topics, and I learned so much from the other panelists’ insights and experiences. It was inspiring to hear how their stories turned out after months of hard work,” she said. “Hearing firsthand accounts of my peers’ experiences made me even more determined to follow this path.”

Hogan, who as a seminar student published a story on modern witchcraft, credited W&M’s focus on interdisciplinary, liberal arts coursework for paving the way for a number of opportunities after graduation.  
 
“Journalism is all about curiosity, and W&M really gave me the space to explore a lot of different areas and learn from each one,” Hogan said. “In my work, I’m often using the quantitative analysis skills I learned from my math classes, the writing skills I learned from English, government, and religious studies classes, and the video production I picked up from my jobs and clubs on campus.” 
 
Throughout the afternoon, panelists discussed how the seminar changed their perspective on the field of journalism and shared illuminating experiences from the field.  
 
“My story is about providing space for my sources to say what they needed,” said Icarus Landaker ’27, an environmental journalism self-designed major, who wrote about the current spatial conflict between Canadian artists in Fort McMurray and the Athabasca oil sands.  
To Landaker one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of their story was having to completely change their topic once they had landed in Alberta, Canada, an experience Hogan called “real, on-the-ground reporting.” 
 
For aspiring student journalists, Hogan offered the following words of wisdom: join a student or local newspaper and find a niche.  
 
“I was able to get my current position not only because of my video production skills, but because I had extensive experience in social media, in reporting, and in motion graphics, all of which I learned through my activities at W&M,” Hogan said.  
 
“It’s one thing to say, ‘I want to be a reporter.’ It’s another to find a specific beat you want to cover, or a specific role you want to fill in the newsroom,” she added. 
 
Reflecting on the showcase, seminar participant Peerawut Ruangsawasdi ’26, a government major, expressed that the showcase was “a wonderful way for us to share our experiences and stories with the W&M community.”  He added, “I especially loved hearing from our alum, Claire Hogan, as well, whose career inspires all of us practicing journalists and student journalists.”

Interested in learning more about the Sharp Journalism Seminar and other journalism opportunities at the Charles Center?  Click here.