Two sprawling multimedia projects dig into the impact of the Erie Canal on the lives of upstate New Yorkers, just in time for the historic waterway’s 200th anniversary.

Newhouse School students spent a year working on stories, photos and podcasts for the canal’s bicentennial year, a milestone being celebrated across New York state in 2025, including the World Canals Conference held in Buffalo Sept. 21-25.

The goal of the award-winning projects was to add depth to the public’s understanding of what the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor describes as the “longest artificial waterway and the greatest public works project in North America.”

“The Erie Canal is something that many [upstate New York] residents are accustomed to seeing regularly,” says Jon Glass, executive editor at the Newhouse School and professor of practice of magazine, news and digital journalism (MND). “We thought these projects would be a great way to introduce our students to the stories that relate to this canal and the impact it’s had on the state of New York.”

Or the rest of the country, for that matter.

About 80% of upstate New York’s population lives within 25 miles of the Erie Canal system. Completion of the Erie Canal in the 19th century dramatically cut down on travel time across the state and revolutionized American commerce. New religious groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists and what would become known as Latter-Day Saints started in canal communities, with followers spreading their message along the waterway.

The projects launched following an idea by Aileen Gallagher, associate dean of academic affairs at Newhouse and an MND professor. Her suggestion of using the canal’s 200th anniversary as the subject of reporting projects seemed like a natural fit, Glass says.

The idea turned into two distinct reporting projects, “Unlocking New York” and “Canal Keepers,” that were eventually united under one banner devoted to Erie Canal storytelling. Through these experiences, students broadened their creativity, reported in the field and produced resumé-building multimedia content.

What the faculty and students didn’t want was a history lesson on the 200 years of the canal, but a deeply personal narrative on the lives and livelihoods of the people surrounding it.

“The Erie Canal is not this historic landmark that’s not functioning. It’s adding to New York’s economy and creating jobs,” says Lauren Bavis, an MND professor of practice.

Canal Keepers

A six-part podcast, “Canal Keepers” began in January 2024 as a senior capstone project in the MND Multimedia Projects course taught by Bavis and Adam Peruta, an associate professor. Students worked on their episodes up until the launch in late June 2024, even after many of them had graduated.

Each 10-minute episode highlights, among other subjects, the paranormal, invasive animal species, folk music and marginalized voices of the canal.

“You have students that are just dedicated when they know something is important and is going to shine on their resumés, but also help their peers too,” says Bavis, whose professional background is in podcasting.

Isabel Bekele ’24 cowrote and reported on the episode “The Erie Canal Beyond History Class,” which focuses on the displacement of Black and Indigenous people during the canal’s construction. Through her reporting, the magazine, news and digital journalism alumna dug into what she called the “hidden history” of the canal.

“There’s this thing that existed and made a huge impact on the infrastructure of upstate New York,” Bekele says. “But who had to suffer in order to make that happen? Who was displaced in order to make that happen?”

She conducted research and interviewed subjects onsite, retrieving sound bites to add to the episode, which strengthened her creative muscles. Some students traveled as far as Buffalo to report in-person and record sound.

“The episodes were supposed to be satisfying and interesting on an audio level,” Bekele says. “That forced us to get more creative with our reporting.”

Unlocking New York

“Canal Keepers” helped to pave the way for “Unlocking New York,” The NewsHouse’s multimedia project. The student-run news platform has conducted comprehensive reporting projects annually over the last six years, covering topics including marijuana legalization and disinformation.

Students began reporting for Unlocking New York in summer 2024 with the project launching a year later in June.  More than 30 stories spanned five sections on the project site: Canal Culture, Corridor Living, Foundations and Frameworks, Echoes of Erie and Here First. Students, under the guidance of Newhouse faculty, oversaw writing, editing, photography, designing, scheduling and more.

Nate Harrington ’24 was the longest tenured student on the project, working as the content director and managing students, stories, copyediting and pitching for over a year. Harrington, who majored in magazine, news and digital journalism, says he honed his skills as a data journalist, something he wasn’t interested in before the project.

Finding his niche in data allowed Harrington to open up career prospects and attend the ACC Meeting of the Minds student research conference in March 2025; he was the only journalism student there.

“I got to present about the Erie Canal and how we were collecting a ton of different stories to more holistically tell the history in ways that likely haven’t been told before,” Harrington says.

The projects have drawn national recognition. “Unlocking New York” won the multimedia category in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Magazine Media Division Student Magazine Contest, while “Canal Keepers” is a finalist in this year’s College Broadcaster Inc./National Student Media Convention Awards.

“It really shows how creative and how persistent Newhouse students are and that they want to try new things,” Bavis added. “They want to get better at everything.”