Roxanne Scott jumped at the idea of teaching Neighborhood News. “Someone had told me that there was a Neighborhood News course, and in the space where I’m now, it seemed like the perfect match to do this. I’m very happy to teach and learn from students how to report on a community they’re a part of,” she said. To Scott, the field of Journalism allows students to be critical thinkers and enhance skills that will last them a lifetime.
Before journalism
The countries of Costa Rica, Mexico, China and Ghana don’t have much in common, except for being home to Scott—at least for a little while.
Scott originally went to college for political science, graduating from Temple University in 2003. Motivated by a course on poverty, she started working at a Homeless Drop Center in Harlem. But most notably, Scott was a teacher.
With inspiration from individuals she helped in Harlem, Scott moved to Costa Rica in 2006 to learn Spanish. Teaching was a driver of her immersion into different cultures. Scott also taught in Mexico and China. “I liked Mexico because by then I had a good command of Spanish, so I could make friends there,” she said. Scott developed a taste for other cultures but was most interested in the African diaspora.
The transition
While teaching in China, Scott started a travel blog. “I would document what I thought about my past travels,” she said. Scott would eventually go on to interview anyone from hip-hop artists performing in China to the African community in which she resided. The blog was a way for Scott to publish her discoveries and interests in the intricacies of the African diaspora abroad.
As her blog gained traction, Scott developed international relationships, which led to journalism. Scott took a trip to Ghana because of the connections she made from her blog and subsequently moved there in 2012 with a desire to explore journalism. She worked with Ghana Decides to report on the country’s elections in 2012. “I would say that was probably my first mini introduction to journalism,” Scott said.
A new career
Scott returned to Queens, and got her master’s at The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY in 2015. Scott moved to the South, where she would work in audio journalism until the pandemic. She calls audio journalism her favorite medium at the time, but that has since changed. “I think my alliances are shifting a bit. Right now, I’m enjoying print,” she told me.
Since her return to the city, Scott took a new outlook on journalism. She now focuses on local climate news in her home borough. Scott is a recipient of The Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship for her continued local reporting. She also has worked for The New Amsterdam News and Futuro. “What I learned is that you can do it if people have your back,” Scott said, noting a story she was doing about border deaths and requesting information from the U.S. government.
Scott looks to continue exploring local communities’ intricacies to highlight untold stories. Her own storied career in journalism and other endeavors has made her the journalist she is today. From Queens to China and back, she has landed at Hunter College.