Future journalists hone skills at 2 ASU institutes

For two weeks, 36 high school students from across Arizona and the nation will meet with local media professionals to learn about the craft – and challenges – of producing news. It’s all part of ASU’s inaugural Summer Journalism Institute and the Summer Broadcast Institute, both outreach programs from the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The students will work in two groups. Twenty of the students will be working with the State Press to design and publish a newspaper, while the remaining 16 will produce two broadcast projects with the help of Eight/KAET-TV staff and ASU’s journalism faculty.

Students will receive hands-on training in the workshops, which are complemented with presentations by local professionals and faculty addressing industry issues, including ethics, opinion writing and business management.

“We hope the students take back their experience to their own high school journalism and media programs to help improve and also inspire fellow students,” says Anita Luera, director of the High School Journalism Institute. “We also hope they will consider attending the Cronkite school after they graduate from high school.”

Most of the 36 students participating in the two institutes are still juniors and seniors in high school, but many already have their sights on coming to ASU.

One of those students is Erica Rodriguez, 18, who graduated from Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria this summer and has been accepted into the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She will begin coursework this August in the school’s new building at the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus.

“Learning every day about journalism has really showed me that this is my passion, and that I really want to do this for the rest of my life,” she says. “The experience of the institute has motivated me to be ready and put everything forward to achieve this goal.”

Rodriguez wants to pursue a career in print journalism and hopes one day to become a columnist for Newsweek, Rolling Stone or Vanity Fair.

The Summer Broadcast Institute receives funding from the Arizona Broadcasters Association, the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Southwest Regional Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Cronkite School.

The Summer Journalism Institute receives financial support from the Arizona Newspapers Association, the Chauncey Foundation and the Cronkite School.