SoJ Web Report | Oct. 22, 2011
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| Photo by Tara Bender |
| High school students worked on onsite pieces while IU journalism students served as judges at the Thursday evening IHSPA conference. Arielle Wegbreit, orange, evaluates one of the sports writing entries. |
Sixteen IU journalism students traveled to Franklin College Thursday evening to serve as judges and offer their critiques at the annual Indiana High School Press Association convention.
In roles traditionally filled by high school publications advisers, the IU students evaluated on-the-spot writing and design entries completed by high school journalists from around the state. The Thursday night "write-off" opens the annual two-day convention of workshops and awards.
“This year, the IU kids are taking over, and the advisers are hanging out, catching up, probably glad to get a break,” said Carrie Wadyckie, IHSPA past president and onsite coordinator.
The collaboration between IU and IHSPA was launched when High School Journalism Institute director Teresa White volunteered students as judges for the event.
“It’s awesome that college kids are here judging,” said Sarah Verpooten, IHSPA coordinator. “High school students are always looking up to college journalists who have it together, and know what’s good and what’s bad.”
Some groups of high school journalists listened as IU student judges gave them feedback on pre-submitted photography and online media entries. Others received assignments at the event and were given 60 to 90 minutes to complete writing or design contest entries.
Judges gathered around a conference table, filling out rubrics and offering notes of feedback late into the evening.
“I thought of it as a benefit to the college students,” White said. “It helps to reinforce what you know when you judge someone else’s work, when you teach what you already know.”
In previous years, White has brought two or three students to help judge the event but wanted to get more people involved this time around.
“We have a particularly active group of students in the journalism school,” she said. “They’re busy people who like to be involved and care about what they’re doing.”
Journalism and education senior Arielle Wegbreit participated as a sports writing judge to gain real-world experience as an evaluator of student work.
“It was helpful to see how different each writing style is,” Wegbreit said. “It’s good experience for when I’ll be a teacher.” She will serve as a student teacher in the spring, working with high school journalism and publications classes.
Scattered among the contest participants, High School Journalism Institute alumni were poised and ready for their assignments. Crown Point sophomores Olivia Graham and Dylan Taylor took feature writing and editorial writing, respectively, at HSJI this summer and competed in those categories at the onsite event.
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| Photo by Tara Bender |
| IU student Biz Carson (foreground) and others not only led critique sessions, they also evaluated high school students' work. |
“We’re both top members of our publication,” she said of herself and Taylor. “We’re both editors, and because of HSJI, we knew what we were heading into.”
Friday, IHSPA announced winners based on the IU students' judging as well as awards for pre-submitted work that had been judged earlier by media professionals. High school students also participated in a succession of workshops and attended talks by professional journalists from Indiana news organizations.
Also at Friday's ceremonies, White received the 2011 Louis Ingelhart Friend of Journalism Award for “outstanding contributions to scholastic journalism education.” A former high school teacher and publications adviser, White has been working with the IHSPA for many years.
Now as an IU School of Journalism lecturer and HSJI director, White said she enjoys finding new collaborations among her network of people, such as the professionals, teachers, high school students and college students at this IHSPA event. She said she plans to continue the tradition.
“It’s a good, practical, hands-on approach to what they want to do with their lives,” she said of both high school and college students.
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