Rush over time

Graphic by Sam Sabin

Since 1994, The Rush has served as a way for summer Institute students to gain hands-on experience putting together a newspaper on a tight deadline.

Each summer, the staff of about 12-14 journalism students work in The Daily Tar Heel offices to produce a newspaper covering Institute news. They brainstorm the year’s content together on Monday night and have only about a day to work on them. For many, this is the first time they’ve had to turn around a story that quickly.

The Rush is a staple of the Institute, proving to be an essential mark of how much students grow and learn at the Institute each year. For the past few years, Robin Sawyer, a retired adviser at First Flight High School (Kill Devil Hills, N.C.), and DTH newsroom adviser Erica Perel have spearheaded the program.

A online version of The Rush launched in 2011, produced by students in the online news sequence.