Left to right, University of Florida students Chris Will, Sandra McDonald and Caleb Ross, are seen aboard a helicopter Aug. 31, 2023, preparing to fly over damaged communities from Hurricane Idalia in north-central Florida. The university’s Fresh Take Florida news program operated by the College of Journalism and Communications chartered the commercial helicopter as part of its coverage of the hurricane across the region.

By Alexa Lewis

In southern Florida, the losing Democratic candidate of a special election for a U.S. House seat filed a lawsuit against his winning opponent. Some of the most important reporting cited in the case against the elected Republican legislator was uncovered not by a major news organization, but by a senior in college.

Silas Morgan is part of Fresh Take Florida, a program launched in January 2019 at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications that engages selected students in intensive, real-world reporting. During his time in the program, Morgan focused his reporting on his area of interest: political accountability.

While researching the candidates for the special election held in December, he discovered the Republican candidate had leased an apartment solely because it was in the district he wished to run, though he had no plans to live there. Morgan’s story was featured prominently in The Miami Herald, one of the state’s most respected news outlets, and quickly became one of their top-performing articles.

“Not every college in America has these resources, opportunities, or courses that allow students to focus on such huge issues,” Morgan said. “The fact that you can get them published by major news organizations is incredibly rewarding.”

Morgan’s news articles have been published in the Tampa Bay Times, Florida Politics, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and other publications statewide. This summer, he will journey north to Politico’s offices in greater Washington, D.C. as part of their 2024 Summer Journalism Institute. He credits it all to the opportunities afforded to him by the Fresh Take Florida program—especially the mentorship of his professor, Ted Bridis.

“It really matters who you learn from,” Morgan said. “In addition to the opportunity, having [Bridis’s] guidance has been so important. He offers so much experience in the type of work he’s done and who he’s done it for, like reporting on politics for the Associated Press in Washington. I know there are other students out there capable of doing what I’m doing— but as talented as a student might be, if they’re not taught how to use those talents, they won’t know how to apply them properly.”

Bridis is the Michael Connelly Senior Lecturer in Investigative Reporting in the College of Journalism and Communications, and oversees the Fresh Take Florida program. Before becoming an educator at the university in 2018, he was an investigative journalist for the Associated Press as part of a Pulitzer-winning reporting team. Bringing his many journalistic accomplishments to the classroom, he sought to forge hands-on reporting experiences for journalism students.

“We try to tailor the class to what the students tell us they need for their portfolios,” said Bridis. For example, if they want to be an environmental or public safety reporter, we look for opportunities for them to engage in that kind of reporting. If they want to be a GA, we make sure they get some good examples of breaking news.”

In addition to building the professional experiences of young journalists, Fresh Take Florida fills reporting gaps local organizations are unable to cover. The program sends student stories to a distribution list that nearly 100 Florida newspapers, television stations, and radio stations have signed up for.

“We try to get a fresh take on every story so we aren’t duplicating what others are reporting. So even the big papers find value in what we put out,” Bridis said. “It’s a public service to make that kind of journalism available to everyone.”

Bridis expressed pride in the work of his students, many of whom have been hired by major news organizations after completing their undergraduate studies. Media outlets which have hired former students include the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, and the Associated Press. At the time of reporting, Fresh Take Florida has also been named a finalist in the IRE National Investigative Reporting Awards for a story on campus crime data removal by student Troy Myers.

Bridis is just getting started. He hopes to continue expanding the resources available to student journalists in the program, and has plans to expand their reporting to Capitol Hill.