Annual Speaker Series Promotes Journalism and Education

2/25/2020

The second Collegiate School Sarah Portlock Fellman ‘03 Speaker Series took place this morning at an Upper School assembly with a discussion about writing, journalism and Virginia politics.

Upper School English teacher Vlastik Svab introduced Jeff E. Schapiro, a veteran political columnist and writer for The Richmond Times-Dispatch who has covered local, state, and national politics for nearly 40 years.

Mr. Schapiro spoke about how he got interested in journalism, issues of interest to the Virginia General Assembly and changes he has seen over the course of his career with the advent of the internet.

“Anyone with a computer and an attitude can pump out something,” he said.

He urged students to question the news they are absorbing.

“Challenge it and consider alternate points of view,” he said.

Mr. Schapiro encouraged students in the audience with an interest in journalism (which he calls minding other people’s business), a career that still intrigues him, to pursue it.

“Ask questions, push, probe and prod,” he said. “It’s possible to do so without knocking over the furniture or offending anyone. Our work is shaping public opinion.”

The speaker series was created through a generous gift from Sarah’s parents, Bill Portlock and Nancy Raybin, to promote journalism and education. As a Collegiate student, Sarah served as a co-editor-in-chief for The Match. She then embarked on a successful journalism career with the Associated Press, Newsday, The Star-Ledger, the Brooklyn Paper and The Wall Street Journal. Sarah was seven months pregnant when she suffered a brain aneurysm on March 31, 2017, and she gave birth to her daughter Aviva. Sarah passed away suddenly on Nov. 6, 2017. Classmates from the Class of 2003 dedicated a campus garden to her, Sarah's Garden (next to the Reeves Center), in 2018.

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