Professional journalist Samuel Loewenberg returned to Uni to get copies of his first articles published in the 1988 school newspaper that set his successful career in motion. It was at Uni in room C261 that he discovered the “power of the press” when he covered a taboo topic--race.
Throughout his high school years, Loewenberg (‘89 grad) noticed that although the campus was considered diverse, classrooms were not as integrated as they could have been. “Even in the yard,” he said, “everyone was divided into their own little groups, notably by race.” This subject matter intrigued him.
Loewenberg then went to the administration and asked for the school’s racial breakdown, for more knowledge about the topic he was covering. The information was denied to him, and he was called into the vice principal’s office for the second time that week, the first being due to mouthing off in French class. The administrator seemed distressed by Loewenberg’s request and questioned his objective.
“I noticed the power dynamics had changed,” Loewenberg observed, “I learned to ask questions you’re not supposed to ask, to understand what is screwed up and get answers from the people with power.” In the end, Loewenberg did his story printed to “get stuff out there.”
Loewenberg attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He studied history, political science, philosophy and theater. He later did stories on murder and even obituaries. The only real journalism training he had took place at Uni in his journalism class. After college, Loewenberg bought a ticket to Eastern Europe and “went for it.” He worked for local community papers in Romania. In Washington, DC, he was a freelance journalist and wrote on government and city. Organizations like the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting have provided grants for his work. Thanks to these grants, Loewenberg, also a foreign correspondent, has traveled throughout Europe, China, Africa and Latin America.
Loewenberg written for many newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper, The Atlantic, Forbes and The Economist.
This past March, he was in Guatemala reporting on the chronic malnutrition 90% of the children suffer due to extreme poverty and the war that lasted from 1963 to 1996. He shot about 16 hours of footage, which he had to edit down to five minutes. This video was featured on the PBS late night show World Focus.
Loewenberg chose to record the crisis visually rather than writing about it. “I wanted to get it in video,” he says. “I thought it would impact more than just reading about it.” Impact it did. The day after the show aired, Guatemala declared itself in a state of emergency, their national nutritionist lost his job, Loewenberg received a call from a member of Congress, and the United States aided Guatemala with 12 million dollars.
“You can have a positive impact, but if you make a mistake it could also be negative,” he told the journalism class.
Loewenberg is an inspiration to all students who have big dreams, an example of how one’s passion, enkindled in high school, can lead to success.