La Louisiane’s newest student editor joins the staff of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s magazine with an impressive résumé of print and broadcast journalism experience.
Bailey Chenevert is a junior psychology major. Her minor is journalism. She spent the last six years working in television news and magazine publications in Lafayette and in her native Baton Rouge.
“Bailey comes to La Louisiane with strong writing skills and valuable experience in publications and in broadcast news. As student editor, she will participate in almost all aspects of producing La Louisiane,” said Kathleen Thames, the magazine’s editor. (Read the Fall 2018 issue here).
Chenevert’s interest in reporting began at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, where she took broadcasting and newswriting classes.
She produced multimedia news stories for “Bulldog News,” the high school’s daily morning broadcast. She also anchored the program.
Chenevert spent four years as a member of Potpourri, Baton Rouge Magnet’s annual literary magazine. She was the magazine’s editor-in-chief during her junior and senior years.
In that role, she edited submissions, designed layouts, consulted with printers, and managed a team of writers and editors.
After enrolling at UL Lafayette, Chenevert was hired as a production assistant at television station KADN. There, she learned the technical aspects of producing television news. She worked late nights and early mornings operating cameras and the teleprompter, and posting content to the station’s website.
Chenevert said she chose to major in psychology to gain “a deeper understanding of people.” The insight enhances her storytelling, she said.
“I believe what I’m learning in psychology makes my writing more genuine and, I hope, more credible. I’m learning to think objectively and empathetically about others,” she said.
As student editor, Chenevert’s duties include writing and editing articles, and conducting interviews. She will also serve as a liaison between La Louisiane and the University’s student body.
“Working for the magazine enables me to write more creatively than reporters typically are able to do. There’s more time to write and more space in the pages of La Louisiane to dive deeply into a story,” she said.
In her free time, Chenevert writes short stories and poetry. She started writing when she was 8, filling spiral notebooks with detective stories written in glittery purple ink. As she aged, Chenevert learned that other forms of writing could be as satisfying as fiction. That realization led her to pursue a career in journalism, she said.
“Newswriting is different from writing fiction because it forces me to focus less on myself and more on what makes other people interesting, and that’s what I want to bring to the magazine – the stories of interesting students. I know there are plenty waiting to be told at UL Lafayette.”
Photo caption: Bailey Chenevert, La Louisiane student editor (Photo credit: Doug Dugas / University of Louisiana at Lafayette)