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<\/a>\u201cI started out with the writing courses because I needed to transfer over my theory classes with the Victoria Conservatory, and I was in the process of figuring that out,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd so I just did writing, and then I never stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Camosun, Klukas transferred to UVic to complete her writing degree. Her initial goal was to specialize in fiction, but upon discovering that all of the fiction workshops were full, she settled on creative nonfiction and screenplay writing. However, Klukas says she still wasn\u2019t really considering going into journalism at that point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that screenwriting might be my end goal, but I didn\u2019t really know what that looked like,\u201d she says. \u201cI thought maybe I\u2019d work for a year and then go back to grad school for screenwriting before I had really even considered journalism. There was definitely a level of uncertainty in any field of writing, and journalism is very competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was during this time that one of her professors at UVic recommended that Klukas submit one of her pieces to The Tyee, an independent Canadian news website. She did, and before long she had secured a fellowship with them\u2014her first experience with professional journalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never did anything like Nexus<\/i>, or the Martlet<\/i>. So that really was my first jump in, at The Tyee. I loved it,\u201d she says. \u201cI was really happy and excited to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the interview process with The Tyee, Jenessa expressed her desire to cover child education and welfare in her writing. Her passion for these subjects developed throughout her 11 years working in childcare, which she did before and during her studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in childcare for that long because I genuinely loved it. But I ultimately felt like it wasn\u2019t where I was meant to be long term,\u201d says Klukas. \u201cI\u2019m really glad that I get to be a voice for education in a different way, and support education and childcare and child welfare in other ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kari Jones, who fondly recalls teaching Klukas composition and creative writing courses at Camosun, says that her passion for child welfare was just as apparent back then.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat definitely seemed like something that she was interested in,\u201d says Jones. \u201cNot in her writing per se, but in just who she was as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
After her fellowship with The Tyee, Klukas landed a job with IndigiNews, an Indigenous-led news platform with offices on Vancouver Island and the Okanagan, where she works now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI really like the work environment at IndigiNews,\u201d says Klukas. \u201cWe have a lot of Indigenous ways of being and Indigenous culture in the way we have the workplace running, and that makes me really happy. It\u2019s a really powerful space and it feels like a very safe space to be in. It\u2019s just great to always feel heard and welcomed as an Indigenous person.\u201d<\/p>\n In her role at IndigiNews, Klukas specializes in child education and welfare. After her time working in childcare, and completing a degree in writing, Klukas feels like she\u2019s found her voice in journalism and is grateful to be able to address what she\u2019s passionate about.<\/p>\n \u201cI think initially I never really considered journalism because I didn\u2019t know where my voice would fit,\u201d says Klukas. \u201cIn this case, what I write really is in covering education, child welfare, childcare, and the foster-care system, and that means a lot to me. Those are the topics I\u2019m really passionate about and I\u2019m so glad that I get to cover them and that I get a way to tell other people\u2019s stories in these spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Camosun College alumna Jenessa Joy Klukas, who completed the University Transfer program in 2018, has always had a passion for writing, but never anticipated the path that she would take to reach her current role. Looking back, it seems that every seemingly small decision has helped guide her to her writing position with IndigiNews. \u201cWriting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-campus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22236"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22293,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22236\/revisions\/22293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}