Ultimate Journalism Experiences for High School Students

To succeed in journalism, one needs experience. For high school Journalists, however, experience is limited. Internships are saved for college students in journalism and freelancing is not an option either. So how can an aspiring high school journalist get experience? Here are some options

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NEWSPAPER-SPONSORED DAYTIME WORKSHOPS Most metro papers offer yearly daytime programs. For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer holds The Acel Moore Career Development Workshop, which is a workshop for high school students in the nearby area, one month in the winter. These programs offer students a chance to learn about journalism by learning from actual reports at the paper or guest speakers. Students then apply those skills by producing a paper. These workshops are usually held on Saturdays for about a month or so and have various topics such as reporting, photography, and graphics.

SUMMER JOURNALISM WORKSHOPS

These programs are similar to the Daytime Workshops except they are usually for a longer period of time and go more in depth. The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund offers minority summer workshops every year in various locations in each state. Students who are accepted to these workshops get a full scholarship to the workshop, so the application process is very competitive.

For students who live near Bloomington, Indiana University offers workshops in the summer on behalf of its High School Journalism Institute. These workshops usually cost about $300 a session. A longer workshop is one held at Northwestern University in Illinois. This workshop lasts six weeks for about $3,000. In most workshops, scholarships are offered to go and for college. Whatever summer workshop it is, it offers High School Students a chance to experience the hard work of being a journalism while learning the ropes of writing and producing a paper

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INTERNSHIPS/FREELANCING

Although most papers do not offer internships, there is a chance that smaller papers may let you have a summer internship. Also some papers such as small dailies and weeklies may let you contribute articles. And don't take for granted when a newspaper want reader input on a certain topic. Those writings you submit may later become useful in making your portfolio (which will be covered in a later article).

HIGH SCHOOL PAPER

The tried and true way, being a member of the high school paper may be a great way to get experience. Articles you write may be useful as clips for future references such as college and internships. This is the chance where you can stumble and perfect your style. Once you get into the work field you have to be sharp. Being in a high school paper may help you ease into the business of journalism

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