High students from across the country are receiving journalism instruction at ASU as part of the Cronkite Summer Journalism Institute. Photo courtesy of Megan Thompson
Twenty-eight high school students are at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication this week to receive in-depth training in multimedia journalism.
Students from Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico and North Carolina and are at the Cronkite School through June 15 as part of the Summer Journalism Institute, an immersive journalism program, where students attend classes with Cronkite faculty, tour local media outlets and produce a newscast and a cutting-edge news website.
Program participants receive scholarships to attend the institute from the Arizona Broadcasters Association, Cronkite Endowment Board member Tom Chauncey, RIESTER, a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency; the Dow Jones News Fund and alumni and friends of the school. Scholarships cover the cost of meals, training and housing on ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus.
Classes include in-depth lessons on reporting, writing, multimedia journalism, videography and video editing, podcasting as well as social media use. At the end of the two-week program, students work with Cronkite faculty to produce a professional-level newscast, where they create news packages, write scripts and operate state-of-the-art studio equipment.
Additionally, students experience the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, staying at the Taylor Place residence hall and visiting the Sun Devil Fitness Complex.
The Summer Journalism Institute is led by Anita Luera, the Cronkite School’s director of high school journalism programs and the immediate past president of the Arizona Latino Media Association.
Classes are taught by Luera and Cronkite faculty and staff, including Associate Professor Craig Allen, Assistant Dean Rebecca Blatt, Cronkite News Executive Editor Christina Leonard, Jessica Pucci, director of digital audience programs and Ethics and Excellence Professor of Practice, and Southwest Borderlands Professor Fernanda Santos. Cronkite alumna Megan Thompson, a reporter at ABC15 in Phoenix, also is among the instructors.
“Each year, the Summer Journalism Institute gets better and better,” Luera said. “These students are getting a great jump-start on their journalism careers. My greatest hope is to see many of them studying journalism at Cronkite in the next few years.”
2018 Summer Journalism Institute Participants
Pristina Benally
Chinle High School, Chinle, Arizona
Brook Bowman
Cactus Shadows High School, Cave Creek, Arizona
Kiara Cuvas
Window Rock High School, Fort Defiance, Arizona
Kiiyahno Edgewater
Hopi Jr./Sr. High School, Kearns Canyon, Arizona
Gabriel Fredericks
Hopi Jr./Sr. High School, Kearns Canyon, Arizona
Om Gawali
Hamilton High School, Chandler, Arizona
Erin Griffith
Desert Mountain High School, Scottsdale, Arizona
Breanna Gruber
Sunnyslope High School, Phoenix
Jacqueline Gutierrez
Pueblo High School, Tucson, Arizona
Gabriel Hawthorne
Chandler High School, Chandler, Arizona
Gabriella Herran
Salpointe Catholic High School, Sahuarita, Arizona
Sahra Hussen
Westwood High School, Mesa, Arizona
Helen Innes
Xavier College, Preparatory, Phoenix
Emerald Izuakor
St. Thomas More Academy, Raleigh, North Carolina
Gabriel Jerez
San Miguel High School, Tucson, Arizona
Ahlias Jones
Arizona College Preparatory, Chandler, Arizona
Michayla Lopez
Queen Creek High School, Queen Creek, Arizona
Donnie Minor Jr.
Waubonsie Valley High School, Naperville, Illinois
Juliana Ortiz
Amy Biehl High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Kaitlyn Ourada
Mountain Ridge High School, Glendale, Arizona
Robbie Patla
Animas High School, Durango, Colorado
Victor Robles Hernandez
La Joya High School, Tolleson, Arizona
Aedan Rodriguez Rivas
South Mountain High School, Phoenix
Morgyn Stanley
Window Rock High School, Window Rock, Arizona
Madison Thomas
Douglas High School, Douglas, Arizona
Madeleine Williamson
Seton Catholic Prepatory, Chandler, Arizona
Megan Yazzie
Window Rock High School, Window Rock, Arizona
Jessica Zhang
Middlesex School, Concord, Massachusetts