Defining moment: Winter’s melting point
A journalism professor at Bethel University describes defining moments in his life and career.
By Callie Schmidt | Royal Report
Walking into digital storytelling at 11:01 a.m. on Thursday, the few students in the classroom at Bethel University start joking with him. This eventually reveals assistant journalism professor Scott Winter didn’t know his class actually starts at 11:10 a.m. — he thought everyone always just showed up late (including himself).
“You can’t just make up your own schedule,” junior Emily (Nelly) Nelson said.
After having students do a lap on the third floor to brainstorm Bethel professors to interview, Winter has his students write ideas down on their computers.
“We’re all gonna be typing at once, it’ll be crazy. Isn’t this exciting and funkadelic?” Winter said. “Nelly, Kelly, no using Comic Sans — this is journalism, remember? No having fun.”
Bethel students voice their appreciation for his teaching style.
“He is one of the most unique professors here at Bethel,” senior Jason Stormer said. “He tries to keep class really conversational, and tries to relate to students really well.”
Winter has his students address him by his first name, and he calls his classroom a “covenant,” not a class.
“At Bethel, we don’t realize how big and talented he really is,” sophomore Megan Nickel said.
In addition to being a professor, Winter is a husband, a father, and an author of Nebrasketball: Coach Tim Miles & a Big Ten Team on the Rise, published in 2015. Winter’s work has been published in American Journalism Review, Indian Country Today, and In the Fray. He describes the book as his most important possession.
“I’m not big into possessions, my wife will tell you that,” Winter said. “I didn’t shop for all of these clothes, they just show up in my closet. I don’t have a lot of stuff. I don’t really care about cars. And it doesn’t mean I’m a really good person, I’d just rather spend my money on food and travel.”
For Nebrasketball, he followed Miles and his team for a year and interviewed hundreds of people to get different anecdotes about the coach. According to Winter, he thought that since he’s teaching students how to do it, he should be showing he can do it too.
Winter says the best stories are the ones with ordinary people having to overcome something.
“I never want to forget that day. She was really struggling with it and we talked through it. Those kinds of moments, seeing students grow like that and also being out in the world like that are really special.” — Scott Winter, journalism professor
Winter was at a park in New Delhi, India with former journalism students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Former student Andrew Dickinson worked with HIV-infected heroin addicts.
“Seeing his empathy toward them and their empathy toward him kind of melted me,” Winter said.
Another former student, Morgan Spiehs, broke down in a coffee shop.
“Her heart was swelling so hugely for little Indian Muslim kids being neglected and mistreated by a Christian school — it just breaks your heart. And she just couldn’t. She had to get away for a day, so we got away for a day. I never want to forget that day. She was really struggling with it and we talked through it,” Winter said. “Those kinds of moments — seeing students grow like that and also being out in the world like that are really special.”
Winter ended up teaching at Bethel due to not getting tenured at Nebraska. According to Winter, it was a pretty awful experience and one of the toughest years of his life.
“I thank God for my kids, thank God for my wife, thank God for my students. And thank goodness for this,” Winter said, motioning toward his book.
Winter felt it was time to move on from a big university where students and faculty are numbers. According to Winter, teaching is an easy job if you don’t put much into it.
“If you want to be a good professor, there’s never a time where there isn’t more you can be doing,” Winter said. “So you have to know when to shut that off. There’s a point at which you need to sit back and watch a movie with your wife.”
Finding that balance is something he has struggled with, and says he always will.
But it’s things like talking to Star Tribune critic Rohan Preston about what Bethel students and those in the Cultural Connections Center could do to speak out against stereotypes and assumptions about race.
It’s helping a student format her blog before class started.
It’s joking and talking with students like real people with important stories.
Winter says every person you meet has a news-worthy defining moment. “I think there are people out there who are making the world a better place,” Winter said. “And it’s our job as journalists to tell those stories to inspire people to do the same.”
