SJGC is proud to announce its newest Rural News Service (RNS) summer intern, public relations student Lauren Baldon.
SJGC is an inaugural partner of RNS, a newly established collaborative housed at WFSU Public Media. Baldon follows Jalen Scott, a journalism student, who served as SJGC’s first RNS intern in the fall. Through this partnership, professional journalists and student journalists from FAMU will report on critical stories across Florida’s middle Panhandle and Big Bend regions, areas often underserved by traditional news coverage.
Baldon recently served as a PR and marketing intern at Lively Tech and audio editor for WANM-FM 90.5. She is also a member of the public relations team at FAMU-TV 20.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to report on rural communities,” Baldon said. “So often, they get overlooked, but the news in small towns is just as important as the news everywhere else. Over the course of this internship, I hope to highlight and serve them well. I’m very excited to be an intern with WFSU, and I’m grateful to the professors at SJGC for recommending that I apply for this position.”
According to Dean Mira Lowe, the collaborative project launched in the fall of 2025, with SJGC journalism student Jalen Scott as an inaugural intern. RNS is funded by Press Forward Catalyst Funds through the Community Foundation of North Florida’s Press Forward North Florida initiative.
Editorial oversight is provided by WFSU Public Media, FAMU SJGC and WTXL/ABC‑27. Together, each partner is working to strengthen local journalism and elevate community-centered storytelling. Learn more at flruralnews.org.
