Young journalism students camp at WWU

South campus was swarming with student journalists this past weekend, as roughly 150 youth in grades eight to 12 from all over Washington state met for a four-day journalism camp.

The students, along with a number of high school journalism advisers, were at Western Washington University Aug. 1 to 4 to take part in the Washington Journalism Education Association's 2014 summer workshop.

The camp is part of WJEA's broad effort to enhance the quality of high school journalism programs throughout the state, said Kathy Schrier, the association's executive director.

"Schools really need healthy journalism programs, because it's a way for students to really have a voice," she said. "Student voices matter, and as student journalists, they also give voice to others in the community and let adults know what's on students' minds."

To that end, the camp trains both students and advisers to do their jobs better. Both youth and adults take classes -- together -- in topics such as press law and ethics, managing time, writing for news and editorials graphic design and learning Photoshop and InDesign.

The schedule was packed, with a couple days requiring students and advisers to sit in the classroom from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

"It's an amazing bunch of people who all feel really passionate about what they're doing and want to do it right," Schrier said.

Haley Cross, editor in chief of The Western Front this past summer, and Evan Abell, the summer Klipsun photo editor, greeted the WJEA campers and staff at the opening ceremonies. Staff members from Klipsun, Planet and the Front welcomed the high school journalists and advisers to an open house at their newsrooms on both Saturday and Sunday.

Advisers often are thrown into their roles with little experience, so one purpose of the four-day camp is to help advisers learn their role in the journalism classroom.

"It's important that the adviser is an adviser, not an editor and not a writer," Schrier said. "Students need to be able to make content choices by themselves."

After a long run of meeting at Central Washington University, this is the second year that the workshop has met at Western, Schrier said.

"We had so much fun, and of course the weather was amazing."

More information on the event, including a video slideshow and a Storify presentation of social media from the weekend, is available on the WJEA's website.

[ Editor's note: Information from Peggy Watt, an associate professor in the WWU Journalism Department, was used in this report. ]

Matthew Anderson
Western Today editor
Western journalism student Hannah Johnson, the lead designer for Klipsun Magazine during summer quarter, coaches a student in the Klipsun office in the Communications Facility on campus. Most of the students in this group are from Sedro Woolley High Schoo
Evan Abell, the photo editor for Klipsun Magazine during summer quarter, tells about shooting for Klipsun and The Western Front. Photo by Pete Kendall, Centralia High School journalism adviser and Western journalism alumnus ('91).
Journalism student Annika Wolters, who also is serving as Western's Associated Students president for the coming school year, demonstrates Western students' work to a group of visitors to the newsroom of The Western Front.Evan Abell, the photo editor for
Western journalism student Hannah Johnson, the lead designer for Klipsun Magazine during summer quarter, describes production to a group of WJEA attendees in the Klipsun office in the Communications Facility on campus. Photo by Pete Kendall, Centralia Hig
Evan Abell, the photo editor for Klipsun Magazine during summer quarter, tells about shooting for Klipsun and The Western Front. Photo by Pete Kendall, Centralia High School journalism adviser and Western journalism alumnus ('91).