Reporter earns award for Rocky Boy school story

Press release

MISSOULA — University of Montana School of Journalism graduate Kaci Felstet recently placed sixth in the prestigious national Hearst Journalism Awards Program in the Multimedia One/Features category.

Felstet’s piece, “Late Start,” was produced this past spring as part of the Native News Project, co-taught by assistant professor Jason Begay and associate professor Jeremy Lurgio.

“Late Start” tackles attendance issues at Rocky Boy’s Elementary School.

Originally, Felstet and her reporting partner, Courtney Anderson, had been researching teacher-retention rates, but realized the story’s core remained with the students.

“Kids weren’t getting the education that they needed,” Felstet said. “And that was something really close to our hearts.”

Begay and Lurgio chose the theme “Relationships” for their class in spring 2015. They challenged students to find unique, personal bonds that explored how people on reservations connect with each other, Begay said.

“It left a lot of room for us to branch out and find our own stories,” Felstet said.

She and Anderson traveled to the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation during spring break and spent several days following their characters and gathering classroom footage at the elementary school. Felstet said the kindergarteners needed some time to get used to the cameras and stop making funny faces at them, but their patience paid off in the end.

“The hardest thing is that you can’t go back,” Felstet said. “You have to get everything you need in three or four days.”

That was where working as a team came in handy. Despite extensive background research and planning, Felstet and Anderson knew they needed to stay both flexible and focused while in the field so they could find the true story, even if it was different from the one they had envisioned.

“Kaci was very organized. She knew what she needed, and she got enough to be able to adapt,” Lurgio said.