Thomas Miller | July 14, 2010
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| Photo by Thomas Miller |
| Taylor Hinton, Ellen Hert and Maggie Alger set up a camera to work on their broadcast class during this week's sessions of the High School Journalism Institute. |
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She's one of 400 students attending one of three sessions of the 64th annual High School Journalism Institute this month at the IU School of Journalism. Students learn new skills as well as sample college life, living in dorms, attending workshops and collaborating on projects. They then apply their new skills to preparing their high school media and publications.
“Our No. 1 purpose for every student is to have a great experience, to get new ideas and new skills to take back to their high school,” said HSJI director Teresa White.
Cook attends high school in Switzerland, but most HSJI students are from the U.S., especially Midwest states. For more than six decades, HSJI has worked to prepare high school students for their work on student publications as well as for possible collegiate or professional journalism work.
While the journalism industry may seem uncertain, White sees a clear path for the HSJI.
“The media changes, the platforms change, but what never changes is treating journalism as a service to your audience.” White said.
This year’s HSJI reflects the diverse media market with students studying video broadcasting, photography, opinion writing and traditional journalism areas like yearbook design and newspaper writing.
For White, an important part of the program is the HSJI.org website, which features stories and content about this year’s program, as well as offers an avenue to HSJI students to publish their stories, projects and photos.
The website might be a new medium for publication, but student publishing always has been a big part of HSJI.
“In the past, students put together a yearbook for their sessions and even ran a daily newspaper,” White said. “Students were doing journalism outside the classroom and that’s something we wanted to emphasize this year.”
For students, having the resources of the HSJI has been a valuable tool.
“It’s given me a really good perspective on the industry,” said Sam Sagartz, a senior at St. Louis Priory.
He works on his high school newspaper and said he enjoyed learning about sports journalism during his time at HSJI.
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| Photo by Thomas Miller |
| Lauren Farley of Greenwood High School prepares to work on a photo essay. Students attend classes as well as work on their own projects during the workshops. |
During their time on campus, students meet with working professionals from a variety of media during “Lunch with a Pro” sessions. Some of these professionals are alumni of the HSJI program and recalled how the program prepared them.
“You learn how to write and report and these are skills you use in lots of careers,” said Rebecca Salerno, a guest speaker at HSJI who works at IU’s Office of Creative Services. “I’m in a completely different career, but my education was very valuable.”
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