High school journalism students and teachers will have the rare opportunity to receive guidance from professionals in many different mass media fields at the 2014 University of Idaho Journalism Workshop.
The Journalism Workshop began as a Scripps-Howard-sponsored event in 2002. However, the Scripps-Howard funding was lost in 2009, and it became a completely UI-run program. This year, with a smaller number of attendees, there will be plenty of time for one-on-one instruction.
“Students will be working on the four C’s: critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration,” said Becky Tallent, director of the workshop and UI associate professor of journalism. “Students previously all did the same things. This year, however, there are three tracks. Students that are interested in journalism will learn journalism, students interested in broadcast will learn broadcast, and students interested in yearbook will learn yearbook. They’ll still come together for some things, such as the diversity and ethics sections, but will mostly be learning within their specific fields.”
Tallent hopes the separation will allow for more specific and in-depth learning to take place.
The decision to invite teachers to attend the workshop has been a success, Tallent said. Sandpoint High School journalism teacher Will Love will helpwith the yearbook section. Love attended the camp twice and will now be involved on the opposite side of things.
“The problem with journalism classes is that there are not a lot of teachers that have been trained to teach them. The school will come in and say ‘teach this’ when the teachers lack any sort of proper training,” Tallent said.
Students enrolled in the workshop will produce an actual product, which is a huge plus, said Tallent. The students in the journalism section of the workshop will produce actual articles for the Summer Arg, while broadcast students will create newscasts and yearbook students will produce yearbook pages. This real life experience can be a huge stepping stone when transitioning to similar college fields.
The workshop will feature professionals from each of the three fields. Aside from instructional sessions, students will be invited to have “Lunch with a Pro” during the Thursday session. Notable instructors and speakers include but are not limited to Moscow-Pullman Daily News editor and UI graduate Devin Rokyta, KREM-TV Assignment Editor Trinity Spencer and public relations representative and graphic designer for Ednetics in Spokane Avery Worrell.
Tallent said that while the current low numbers can be positive in some ways, she would love to get the word out about the workshop.
Sessions run from this Wednesday through Saturday, and students will be staying in the residence halls.
Visit the workshop’s website to see students’ work.
Karter Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]