On a cool Thursday afternoon in January, 21 students milled into room 110 of the College of Charleston’s Education Center. Melissa Delaney started the semester by telling the students to forget that they were in a classroom. “Think of Ed Center 110 as your newsroom,” she said. “I’m not your professor; I’m your editor in chief. We won’t have classroom discussions; we’ll have meetings.” She explained that their goal was not to get a good grade but to produce an online magazine their readers would love. They’ll come up with the concept, write, edit and fact check the stories, gather artwork, plan designs and lead production. Grades will be based on peer reviews and performance evaluations looking at everything from writing and editing skills to reliability, creativity and leadership. In the end, they’ll have more than just three credits. They’ll have a magazine. One student dropped out.
     The other 20 came back the next week and stared at Delaney at the front of the room. She grabbed her water, moved to a desk among them and asked, “What’s the name of our magazine?” That was the beginning of Pluff.

​     The "staff" decided their audience consisted of 20-somethings who are not from Charleston but are here on vacation, for college or to start their careers. Their working tag line was, “You weren’t born in Charleston. You won’t die in Charleston. But you want to have fun while you’re here.” They chose the name from the pluff mud throughout the Lowcountry, a sight and smell that's become undeniably home for them. They brainstormed ideas and broke into teams to tackle the bigger feature stories. One team decided to actually go from a farm to a restaurant and see what’s behind the hype of the sustainable food movement. Another decided to profile five young people who followed their hearts instead of their wallets into the workplace. Another wanted to learn more about the Gullah community’s history and traditions. And the last decided to look inside the collaborative forces that are shaping Charleston’s growing music scene. The students also decided to pool their knowledge about the city and come up with a list of 50 first date ideas.
     There were problems. Students struggled to come up with ideas. Sources didn’t return calls. Technology didn't work as they had planned. But a lot more went right. Students learned about their city, about journalism and about each other. They became a team, and many went above and beyond. Erin Walters, through an independent study, created the website, and Justin Brewer designed the graphics, including the Pluff logo. People outside the class helped, too. Author and former Newsweek, Fortune and Wall Street Journal reporter Erik Calonius and Katie Abbondanza of Eater visited the Pluff newsroom to give feedback and ideas. Kenny Adcock of Brainstorm Design talked about creating the website. Cartoonist Brian Sullivan and CofC freshman Tanner Hoisington contributed artwork. And Communication Department Chair Dr. Bethany Goodier and Instructional Technologist Amy Ostrom helped with logistics.

     Much of the class is graduating this semester. Some aspire to work at magazines. Others will never step foot in another newsroom. Most will put Pluff on their resumes, because it was more relevant work experience than many of their internships or part-time jobs. But the biggest reward has been seeing what they’ve accomplished—meeting just twice a week, with zero budget. “I was reading our feature the other night,” one student said, “and it’s really good.” She couldn't believe they had created it.
     “I can,” Delaney replied.