Intern Spotlight: Yehoshua McClerklin
“Community is key”: Finding Common Ground through Dialogue
By Serena Naji, HRI David F. Prindable Intern
“Passion, understanding, and hope” are the three words Yehoshua McClerklin, a sophomore in political science, uses to describe his experience as the 2024–25 Gateway Intern. The Humanities Gateway Internship in Public Media and Civic Engagement is a partnership between Illinois Public Media and the Humanities Research Institute. Interns work with Illinois Public Media journalists to facilitate listening sessions with citizens in our region to help inform news coverage of Illinois communities.
As Yehoshua describes it, his experience working on, and sitting in on, listening sessions is a way to highlight lesser-known rural Illinois communities, especially their racial minority populations. The goal is to develop an understanding of people’s experiences related to politics, education, and other topics citizens think those outside of the community need to hear about. Yehoshua notes that a consistent topic of conversation is the “collective diversity” of rural citizens and ensuring that the voices of people of color are heard.
“Our primary goal is to get out there and understand what's the current mindset with everything going on in the world,” he said. “What is going on within your community that you think people need to hear about? And what are some hidden gems in your own community?”
Recently, Yehoshua and members of the Illinois Public Media team worked on a listening session in Danville to understand what life in Danville is like in 2025. Through this experience, he learned from community members about the area’s culture and traditions that he wouldn’t otherwise have learned if he didn’t get the chance to listen and have a conversation.
Yehoshua said he learned more about the importance of dialogue when representing and understanding social and political perspectives. He found that through productive dialogue there are evident similarities among different people within communities and that it is possible to find areas of agreement or connection even within more polarizing topics. “I feel like community breaks down that barrier and it helps people understand just how alike they are in the real world,” he said.
When asked about why he pursued this internship with strong media and community engagement components, Yehoshua spoke about how his potential career paths in politics will require a deep understanding of the media and how it impacts communities. He recognizes the pervasiveness of media and its role within our political climate. Yehoshua is also passionate about the community engagement aspects of these listening sessions, because he views community as the key to overcoming large-scale issues. His participation in dialogue with people of communities he didn’t have experience with provided new insight on how people live and work together.
Yehoshua advises future Gateway interns to be realistic and conscious about their goals for the role. He emphasizes how it’s important to have realistic expectations and goals for what can be achieved through these listening sessions and as part of Illinois Public Media’s work. The acts of building community and having conversations about serious topics are ongoing, and Yehoshua highlights the importance of self-advocacy and being driven by one’s values. “Community engagement with programs like these mean a lot to me,” he said, “because I feel like community is the best way to overcome almost any issue.”