High School Journalism Institute » tony willis

HSJI Round 3

Jay Seawell - HSJI Webmaster — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:49:40 +0000

Photo by Jay Seawell

Multimedia Workshop instructor Lori Henson discusses a possible story topic with Jackson Wen of Bloomington High School North and Hannah Alani of Bloomington High School South on Saturday, July 17, at Ernie Pyle Hall.

Today is the first day of the final chapter of summer 2010 HSJI. A much smaller group has come to campus this time (just fewer than 90) but it's another group of people from a remarkable range of places outside the Midwest, including New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and India.

After registration concluded this afternoon, HSJI Director Teresa White welcomed the new group to campus and then introduced the faculty and staff for the week. The new classes for this session are the Multimedia workshop, taught by Lori Henson, and Sports Reporting and Writing, led by Tony Willis.

Classes met in the afternoon and resumed after a dinner break. In the Multimedia Workshop, Henson had her students research their possible topics for multimedia stories, and told them to decide on which platform they will use for the story, whether it be an audio slideshow or video. With journalism becoming more Multimedia-oriented, this workshop will surely provide great experience for its students, whose projects we will be posting on this blog later in the session.

Down the hall, in the Ernie Pyle Hall auditorium, Terry Nelson addressed Newspaper students with a talk about how to improve coverage of stories. Nelson stressed that there are current themes, such as bullying, that scholastic publications can tackle, and she also recommended that staffs of these publications establish ethics policies to define how they will go about covering such stories. For example, a staff should criticize an action or practice rather than an individual, and if a staff is critical in an editorial, then the editorial should suggest a solution for what it sees as the problem.

Nelson also gave the students a host of suggestions of how to find content for their respective publications. To name a few, Nelson told students to assign a reporter to cover all school board meetings, to routinely check daily school announcements and to get in the habit of scheduling monthly meetings with school principals.

After giving suggestions, Nelson closed on an encouraging note. She commanded the students to not think of themselves as just kids, but to have the mindset that they can change the world for the better. She proceeded to show the students a video titled "Lost Generation," in which a teenage voice turns negative statements about this current generation into positive statements.

Nelson said that bringing about positive change "can start with your high school newspaper." And with that, the students filed out of the auditorium to embark on a new session of HSJI.

Please check back for more updates and student work.

My HSJI Experience: Bobby Gibler

James Nosek – Mason High School — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:06:00 +0000

After a week at the High School Journalism Institute, students get ready to pack up their bags and head home. For beginning journalists this week has been a learning experience but for more advanced writers this week was a great way to bring ideas back to their newspaper.

Bobby Gibler, a senior at Mason High School and new staff writer, said, "I can’t wait to take these new ideas here and take them back home." When asked about his overall experience at HSJI, Gibler said, "When I first got here, I was nervous but once I knew our schedule and how it worked, I was fine."

Students spent time in lectures and small group sessions with experienced journalism teachers from different schools. "I was impressed with our instructor (Tony Willis). He was willing to help everybody individually and gave us good tips for this coming year," Gibler said.

One of the main topics throughout lectures and small group sessions was about the use of online journalism. "I learned a lot about online editing, and online work that could help out our website," Gibler said.

"I felt we needed direction because we are new writers," Gibler said. "Next year, our advisor will not do the same thing as our mentor did."

Journalism students need to be skilled in many aspects to succeed and impress employers

Robert C. Gibler – Mason High School — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:42:36 +0000

Technology is evolving, employer expectations are increasing, and today’s journalism students need to be more prepared than ever in order to succeed. Demands from employers and the advancement of technology will play large roles in the futures of journalism students.

According to Marcia Debnam, Indiana University’s Career Services Director, incoming journalism majors and students need to embrace and learn techniques that were not expected of them a few years ago. Debnam says that knowledge of software programs and ability to work in a variety of situations will help journalism students meet employer demands and surpass previously set standards. She also said that desire to succeed will help students excel.

“Many years ago, you could be a lot of things, like a photojournalist or an editor,” Debnam said. “But because of technology (and its advancement), almost all communication is on the Internet. Journalists have to know about different software programs and have to be able to use different forms of technology. Journalists need to know not only how to write, but also how to shoot videos, edit, take photos, and post online. It’s a lot more demanding.”

Because of these changes, journalism students may also find themselves more pressured to impress employers in ways that may have not been expected before.

“It’s very important to plan ahead,” Debnam said. “Your employers want to see that you know many aspects of journalism. It’s important to know more than just how to write journalistically; you also need to familiarize yourself with the ethics behind the writing, and know how to speak in public. You need to know how to conduct interviews, and you need to have in social media. They want to see people who rise above the others – the ones who stand out will be the most successful.”

With the increasing demand for students with a variety of knowledge and technical skill, Debnam says that high school students planning on majoring in journalism should immerse themselves in as many aspects as they can while still keeping their goals in perspective.

“First of all, enjoy being young,” Debnam said. “Even after graduation, studies show that people may change jobs many times. It’s important to get involved, try many new things, acquaint yourself with the processes and ethics behind journalism, and be open to new and different experiences.”

Though incoming journalism students may feel overwhelmed and frightened at what may be required of them, Debnam says that the truly dedicated students are the ones who will be most successful.

“Competition is growing,” Debnam said. “But if students want to do it for money rather than for the love of journalism itself, it will not be as great of an experience. Journalism is more important than ever and the truly dedicated students who love what they’re doing will do best.”

Things I Learned at HSJI

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:12:21 +0000