Peace,
love and journalism: Register for summer Institute scheduled
for June 19-22
Students and teachers are invited to enroll in
the North Carolina Scholastic Media Institute June 19-22 on the
UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
NCSMA student officers have chosen a ‘60s theme, “Peace, Love and
Journalism.” Join us here for journalism instruction and workshop fun.
Instructors will travel from across the state and nation to offer their expertise
in newspaper, yearbook, magazine and broadcast journalism.
The Institute is open to all advisers and to students who are rising ninth-graders
through rising 12th graders. The schedule includes 20 hours of instruction, plus
time for a pizza party in the Kenan Stadium skybox, a talent show on the Quad
and a tie-dye event on the lawn.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill sponsors the Institute. The intensive workshop is designed to
teach creative and effective ways of communicating through scholastic media.
Students may enroll in one of the following divisions: newspaper, yearbook, literary
magazine, photojournalism, desktop publishing or TV news. Advisers may enroll
in any of those six divisions, or they may enroll in the advising division.
Students may also apply for staff positions on The Rush, the Institute newspaper
(see page 6). The Rush staff will produce the Institute’s official newspaper
in four days. TV news students will produce the Institute’s newscast.
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Column:
Nod to honors credit for journalism classes
by J. Alan Peoples
NCSMAA President
How rigorous should a course be at the high school
level to be awarded honors status? Before I answer that question
with my opinion, let’s look into a typical journalism classroom
to see the various jobs and assignments students have to tackle.
My last column outlined the many steps that a journalism class
must go through to acquire all the needed equipment to produce
publications at the high school level. These steps included such
diverse jobs as raising money for computers on which to produce
the publication and selling ads to local businesses to raise
funds for publication. Beyond these issues, journalism students
must
maintain a budget, schedule and take pictures for the yearbook
and other publications, and create a distribution system for
the finished product.
Workshops
All the while, they are writing the text and recruiting good
staff people for the next cycle. Attending a summer session,
such as
the North Carolina Scholastic Media Institute, where the training
is invaluable, is also an important part of the overall process.
I do not advocate the awarding of honors credit to just anyone
who is on the staff. I feel that the credit should go to those
who have been to one or more workshops outside the school, have
been on the staff for more than one credit session, have achieved
the status of at least assistant editor on a publication, and
have met all the prerequisites to get to the honors level.
Many other courses offer honors credit for extra hard work or
research, and they also have prerequisites. It seems to me that
it would
be only fair for journalism students to get at least the same
minimum benefits as other honors courses. At our school, as well
as many
others, journalism courses are the only courses that have to
sell our products to raise the money for publication.
Interdisciplinary
Journalism courses are also interdisciplinary. Our staff works
on math and business skills when we set a budget, plan and implement
the fundraising and sales, and work on the distribution of the
finished product. We also work on projected sales by using the
cost and time factors from past years to plan for the next year.
We work on research skills and writing skills as we pare information
to work within the timeframe and into the allotted space in the
publication.
Our writers are most often some of the best in the school, and,
even when they are not on our staffs we must approach the better
writers and ask for their submissions.
One of the biggest draws is for the literary arts magazine is
that it is sometimes the only outlet for the creative students
to get
their work published.
Honors courses take students to a higher level of skill and independence.
An honors classroom has self-motivated students who can focus
on a project, lead as well as be a team member, seek answers,
and
maintain a high level of energy.
Look into a classroom where a yearbook, a literary magazine,
or a newspaper is being published, and these are the students
you
will see. They deserve honors credit.
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Column:
Trials, tribulations, tasks of deadline week
by Suzy Chen
NCSMA President
Ahh, deadline week: the greatest seven-day period
in the life of a literary magazine staff writer or editor.
Inevitably, Murphy’s Law will somehow find a way to surface during this
interval. Perhaps all of the computers crash just as your tech editor has finished
saving everything onto a jump drive. Perhaps your teacher’s car breaks
down before she has to drive a hard copy of the magazine to the plant. Hey, maybe
the publication gods just really, really hate you.
You should not, however, find obvious mistakes that should have been picked up
during the final editing processes. After Ms. Hambacher, our adviser, and I have
edited all of the written submissions, each entry must be checked off by three
different members of the staff. The signed off copy and the spread have to match,
for starters.
Furthermore, everyone is free to ask questions about the grammar. If a mistake
is found, the process starts again. Three different people must, once again,
painstakingly go through the poem, story, feature, or review. It doesn’t
matter if the mistake was a misplaced comma. We don’t care.
So, imagine, during deadline week, when I sat down at the computer to print the
first of 36 and found a mistake. And then another. And then another. There were
quotes around some pull quotes and not around others. The text in certain pull
quotes didn’t match the copy in the actual spread.
One of the prose pieces didn’t have an end mark at the end. I found comma
splices. I saw “three hour” and “three-hour,” “special
effects” and “special-effects,” “Depression-era” and “During
the depression…” in the same spread.
Even after the best efforts, there will always be some sort of grammar inconsistency
that no one managed to catch. That’s human error. But at the same time,
deadline week isn’t the time for laziness. When May arrives, we want to
celebrate a year of hard work and dedication—not bemoan everything we could
have caught.
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News
in brief
State
Journalist of the Year winners announced
First Flight High School journalist Danielle Landskroener has been named the
2006 Rachel Rivers-Coffey North Carolina High School Journalist of the Year.
Landskroener serves as Editor-in-chief of the Nighthawk News.
Alternates were Sarah Dutton of Manteo High School and Andrew Dunn of Apex High
School.The N. C. Press Association established the annual scholarship award and
named it in honor of professional journalist and former NCPA president Rachel
Rivers-Coffey, who was killed in a horseback riding accident.
NCPA will award a $500 scholarship to Landskroener, and $200 to each alternate
at the Institute’s annual Awards Brunch. Each student’s journalism
teacher will receive matching funds for use in his or her journalism classrooms.
Asian American Journalists Association hosts free J Camp
The Asian American Journalists Association is hosting J Camp, a high school journalism
program for gifted students of color. The program will be held from July 29 to
August 3, 2006 at New York University in New York City, NY.
Previous speakers
at the six-day camp include Carl Bernstein, Aaron Brown, Tim Russert, and Helen
Thomas, among others.
Applicants must be current freshmen, sophomores or juniors. A maximum of 40 students
will be selected. Applications are now being accepted but must be received by
April 14. For more information, go to the AAJA website at www.aaja.org .
Honors journalism course information available online
Honors journalism course materials have been posted on the NCSMA web site, http://www.
ibiblio.org/ncsma . The information includes course goals, objectives, a pacing
guide, and other helpful items for both newspaper and yearbook.
Dow Jones Teacher of the Year applications due July 1
Dow Jones Newspaper Fund is now accepting applications for its National High
School Journalism Teacher of the Year Program.
While others (including students) can nominate a teacher, the application form
must be completed by the teacher. Teachers are asked to confine their responses
to a total of five typed pages along with three letters of support, an updated
résumé, a 35mm headshot of the teacher and six copies of two editions
of newspapers or newsmagazines or printouts of Web-only editions published during
the current school year.
Application materials must be postmarked by July 1.
Contact the fund at (609) 452-2820 or by email at newsfund@wsj.dowjones.com.
NCSMA offers Institute tuition, scholarships for 11 students
NCSMI will award three full-tuition scholarships to minority students and six
$75 scholarships to any student based on need. The scholarships will apply toward
the $160 registration fee.
Four of the scholarships are named in memory of NCSMA associates. One, the Elizabeth
Anna Windsor Scholarship, honors the memory of the daughter of Salem adviser
Kay Windsor and her husband. Elizabeth died Oct. 11, 1996. A second scholarship
honors the memory of longtime Kinston High adviser Oran Perry, who died Feb.
8, 1998.
The third scholarship is named in memory of Paula Carole Faircloth, daughter
of Clinton High adviser Mary Lou Faircloth and her husband. The fourth is named
in memory of John Bittner, UNC-CH professor of electronic communication.
Merit-based scholarships
Students are also encouraged to apply for one of two merit-based scholarships
covering $160 Institute tuition. Both were established by the N.C. Scholastic
Media Advisers Association in February 2005. Both honor two UNC-CH School of
Journalism and Mass Communication icons.
Professor Chuck Stone and Dean Richard Cole retired last May.
Stone has addressed scores of NCSMI students each summer. He is a tireless advocate
for student press rights. The Chuck Stone Institute Scholarship for Courage of
the Press honors a student who also respects student press freedoms.
Cole is a former director of NCSMA. During his 26 years as dean of the School,
he hailed the association as one of the most important outreach efforts of the
School. Cole, noted across the country for his leadership abilities, was UNC’s
longest standing dean. The Richard Cole Institute Scholarship for Editorial Leadership
recognizes a student who has also exhibited exemplary leadership.
All applicants must write short letters discussing their career aims and why
they want to attend the Institute. Advisers should write supporting letters stating
why the students deserve the award. Applications should be postmarked by May
25.
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Column:
Cool, comfortable Institute news
by Monica Hill
NCSMA Director
After
years of asking students to pack a fan for our Summer Institute,
we are so excited to invite everyone to an air-conditioned dorm
this year. Our assigned dorm is in the center of campus on Stadium
Drive. For those of you who have attended in the past, I know
you join me in celebrating this shorter trek to Carroll Hall,
home of the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Carmichael Residence Hall to Carroll will be half the journey
you traveled in the past.
The quality of instruction, however, will remain as high as ever.
And the registration fee will remain as low.
NCSMA offers one of the most cost-effective scholastic media workshops
in the country. We look forward to seeing you here in Chapel Hill
June 19-22.
Stars of stage and screen
Robin Sawyer of First Flight High School and two of her students
were invited to participate in a Fred Friendly seminar at Columbia
University earlier this month. Sawyer and her students represented
North Carolina scholastic journalism so well. They spoke passionately
about their beliefs in student press rights.
This seminar was an impressive one. Dateline NBC correspondent
John Hockenberry moderated the event. Watch the CSPA Web site (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cspa)
for information on obtaining a copy of the seminar DVD.
Congratulations
Sawyer and Brenda Gorsuch of West Henderson High were each awarded
a Gold Key from Columbia Scholastic Press Association during the
recent CSPA convention. CSPA awards Gold Keys to “educators
and others for their support of excellence in teaching journalism
and in advising the student press.”
Cheers,
Monica
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