Universities have been in the news a lot lately.

This isn’t about that.

It’s about something many hiring managers overlook: the idea that what students do in college isn’t “real experience.”

I get why people focus more on what grads have done since college. But it misses something important.

That hit me at a recent event marking the 100th anniversary of The Eagle, American University’s student newspaper. No, I wasn’t there when it launched in 1925 — or when it was renamed The American University Eagle in 1947.

I showed up during the Watergate era, when the name had been shortened to The Eagle. The times were anything but simple. On June 17, 1972, Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein began covering what would become the biggest political scandal of the decade.

If you were a student journalist at a D.C. university back then, the headlines were electric. Tensions between the White House and the press played out in real time — on TV, in print, on the radio. It was thrilling, inspiring, and just a little scary.

I wasn’t The Eagle’s political editor — I was the arts editor. But we all felt the fire.

Several months after graduation, I landed my first newspaper job covering high school sports in Naples, Florida. My beat included the Naples High Golden Eagles, and I covered them the way Woodward and Bernstein covered Nixon. (The coach didn’t love that approach. Another story.

The point is, every generation of student journalists finds its Watergate.)
It might be a Supreme Court decision. A protest. A campus safety failure. A controversy no one wants covered.

Student journalists don’t get paid. They get bylines — and maybe grief.
They work late. They get dismissed by those who don’t consider them “real” reporters. Their professors don’t cut any slack because they were out covering a story.

So why do they do it?

Because someone has to ask the hard questions. Because the only way to learn how to chase a story is to chase a story. Because a good campus paper gives students a voice — and a community a mirror.

And along the way, student reporters build serious skills. They write fast and clearly. They meet deadlines. They listen actively. They check facts, ask sharp questions, make tough ethical calls. They develop habits. Judgment. Resilience. Passion.

So let’s call that what it is: real work with real impact.

That’s what I saw in the faces of the students who gathered to celebrate The Eagle’s centennial. That’s what I want hiring managers to understand.

Before you brush off the campus paper as extracurricular fluff, consider this: It may have been their first newsroom, but it was also their first real workplace.

And wouldn’t it be nice to hire someone who treats deadlines like promises?

Steve Piacente is Director of Training at The Communication Center in Washington, D.C., the owner of Next Phase Life Coaching, and the author of three novels and a self-help book: “Your New Fighting Stance: Good Enough Isn’t, and You Know It.” He recently launched piacentephotos.com.