Berry Communication students converge media to chronicle the Jewish experience in Florence, Italy

The coverage that begins here is the product of a seven-member team of Berry students who traveled to Florence in May and June to tell the stories of the Jews of Florence.

The students learned print, video and photo journalism on the ground in Italy in order to tell the stories of a minority people that date back in this Renaissance Catholic city to the mid-15^th century.

The Project Florence team: Kelly Dickerson, left, Mary Claire Stewart, Kayla Sanner, Rachel Shin, Bethany McDaniel, Chardonnay Copeland, and Kirstie Broadwell

The seven Communication majors learned multimedia journalism in an intercultural, international context, first at Berry, then in Florence. Story topics include how Jewish Florentines negotiate their religious and national identity in a predominantly Catholic country, a story on kosher Italian cooking, a photo tour of the city’s only synagogue, and the heart-wrenching story of World War II survivor Fortunata Franchetti Treves.

“We had so much help from so many good people in Italy,” said Dr. Brian Carroll, Florence project director and associate professor of Communication at Berry. “The kindness of Florentines in opening up their homes and giving of their time was overwhelming.”

Joining Carroll on the faculty for the project were Kevin Kleine, lecturer of Communication and Berry’s student publications advisor; Curt Hersey, instructor of Communication; and Steve Farina, a historian and native of Florence.

Participating students included Bethany McDaniel, Chardonnay Copeland, Kirstie Broadwell, Kelly Dickerson, Kayla Sanner, Rachel Shin and Mary Claire Stewart.

“To be honest, I was intimidated by the converged media nature of our project, especially video,” said Chardonnay Copeland, a junior communication major from Pine Mountain, Ga. “But I found out I could rise to the challenge, and I learned how to do journalism in any medium, in all media. It was an incredible experience.”

The Project Florence team would like to thank Steve Farina for consulting on the project and helping in ways big and small; Accent for logistics support, including Beth and Daniela; Michele Gaeta for feeding the hungry; Adel at the LdM Café; Rabbi Joseph Levi; the Treves family; Sandro and Silvia Servi; Tomas Jelinek at Ruth’s restaurant; Gabriel at Carrozze; and the Viking Fusion crew for production support and for publishing all the content.

The multimedia reporting practicum is offered by Berry every other summer.

3rd place winner in the national multimedia reporting competition in Washington, D.C.