By Joylynn Lee
Staff Writer
Senior Maddie Stouder secured a position as one of the student-advocates for the Financial Times.
Stouder was accepted for the position of a student-advocate at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year and plans to hold the job until the end of the year. Her Model United Nations teacher, Annie Choi, offered this program to all of her students and selected Stouder for the position. The Financial Times is a news organization based in the United Kingdom, covering many various topics including art, culture, news and economics.
“As a Financial Times student-advocate, I join monthly meetings with students around the world,” Stouder said. “I was in a meeting just last week with kids from the U.K., [Japan] and many other countries.”
In the Financial Times meetings, Stouder and the other members discuss possible new ways, such as podcasts or YouTube channels, to reach out to a variety of new audiences. “Journalism is definitely not where I plan on my life ending up,” Stouder said. “I do plan to go into public health and politics, so spreading awareness about a balanced news source is really cool for me.”
Stouder has learned more about how media is produced, and this has benefited her in becoming a better consumer of information. She also has the opportunity to learn more about the industry overall.
“Financial Times is often used in our current event quizzes [in school],” Stouder said. “It’s pretty beneficial to people since it covers many international stories.”
The Financial Times isn’t regularly on the radar of many Americans since it’s mainly based in the United Kingdom. Costa Model United Nations students use this site due to its variety of topics and world events, according to Stouder.
“I am able to understand that some media outlets are purely predatory in their bias and reporting,” Stouder said. “Financial Times makes it extremely clear on how their reporting is unbiased and is transparent in their reporting practices.”
Stouder and the other advocates also discuss how they could make the Financial Times more accessible for students and broaden their reach to better inform the public on the more unknown international issues.
“I would normally hold in-person meetings,” Stouder said. “Although since everything is online, it can be super tough, since meetings aren’t in person and things are so different compared to previous years.”
According to Stouder, the Financial Times makes complicated situations going on around the world easier to understand and is a perfect resource for teachers of any subject. She is
promoting the versatility of this organization. The website also has a page dedicated to currencies, equities and data regarding the financial market.
“The Financial Times has branched out to Instagram and a lot of other relevant social media sites,” Stouder said. “I have suggested a few new podcast ideas, much like Vox’s podcast network, so we will see how they pursue that in the future.”
Branching from a website is a useful ability that helps the organization connect with people of all ages, according to Stouder. The Financial Times has been going through difficulties due to the pandemic, just as other news organizations. Stouder has been experiencing different complications, such as the restrictions in the things that she can accomplish. She is limited in ways she can meet with people in the community and physically go to events.
“I have learned about marketing, communication and team-building through meetings and tasks,” Stouder said. “We communicate our ideas with [Costa] teachers and other advocates to make this a positive experience for all advocates.”
According to Stouder, her first year as a student advocate has been very influential, as she has learned a lot throughout her experience. She continues to encourage people to look at the Financial Times reporting style, specifically on how they lack a political persuasive tone and contain loaded language throughout their writing.
“Doing my job can be incredibly difficult during this time,” Stouder said. “That’s why I am so appreciative of [La Vista] covering my position and the Financial Times.”
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