UA Journalism, ASPA Host Award-Winning Summer Programming

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — More than 100 middle and high school journalists from 10 states will be on The University of Alabama campus starting June 17 to attend the award-winning annual Multicultural Journalism Workshop and The Long Weekend camp.

All students will receive intensive training in journalism-related skills during The Long Weekend, June 17-19. Eighteen students were selected through a special application process to remain an additional week for the Multicultural Journalism Workshop. That workshop, recently honored by the Journalism Education Association, focuses on media in a diverse society.

“The College of Communication and Information Sciences is extremely pleased to welcome the outstanding high school students joining us for this year’s Long Weekend and Multicultural Journalism Workshop,” said Dr.  Loy Singleton, dean of the College. “The Alabama Scholastic Press Association, along with the journalism department, has prepared an exciting, challenging experience for them.”

Student participants in The Long Weekend will attend workshops led by UA journalism faculty and media members from Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Topics covered range from yearbook to photography to broadcast to digital media and more.

Meredith Cummings, director of ASPA, said attendance at The Long Weekend benefits both students and teachers in the short-term and potentially even in reaching long-term career goals.

“One thing students and teachers who attend The Long Weekend camp are surprised to find is that some of the professionals in the media industry they meet here become lifelong contacts and friends,” Cummings said.

“We have students who have come to our summer camps and, down the road, gone on to work with the professionals who presented at the camp. We have teachers who know, after meeting industry professionals, that they can contact them at any time for help in the classroom. I’m not sure that campers think of camp as a resource – because first and foremost it’s fun and helpful – but the people they meet here can turn out to be wonderful resources for both students and teachers.”

The students attending the 10-day Multicultural Journalism Workshop were selected based on applications they submitted for the program. The group, with assistance from Cummings and the journalism department, will produce coverage of ongoing Tuscaloosa tornado recovery efforts across various media platforms, in addition to attending additional workshops and other events.

“These two programs require significant time and financial commitments from the department of journalism and the College, but they’re so valuable on many levels,” said Dr. Jennifer Greer, chair of the department. 

“We’re honored to be able to play a role in training future journalists and to help students not going on to media careers understand how important journalism is in a democratic society,” Greer said. “These summer programs literally have changed lives in that students with only a passing interest in writing have come in and had their eyes opened to whole new career possibilities that they’ve never imagined.

“These workshops are especially exciting in today’s environment, when media are changing so rapidly,” Greer said. “Students in the programs today will be the pioneers of media industries we can’t even comprehend right now.”

The following students were selected as members of the Multicultural Journalism Workshop Class of 2011:

James Banks Jr., Greensboro High School, Greensboro
Mitchell Bird, Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park, Kan.
Anthony Cave, Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, Miami, Fla.
Siddhartha Neil Chakraborti, Paul W. Bryant High School, Tuscaloosa
Maacah Davis, Oak Mountain High School, Birmingham
Joshua Everett, Leeds High School, Leeds
Bekka Hartline, Stanhope Elmore High School, Millbrook
Tiffanie Herron, Murrah High School, Jackson, Miss.
Hansol Hong, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School, Montgomery
Victoria Lindbergh, Vestavia Hills High School, Vestavia Hills
Beth Lindly, Northridge High School, Tuscaloosa
Chelsea James, Gadsden City High School, Gadsden
Brittan Jarmon, Muscle Shoals High School, Muscle Shoals
Ashley Montgomery, MacArthur High School, Lawton, Okla.
Michael Mumpower, Stanhope Elmore High School, Millbrook
William Parfitt, Landmark Christian School, Fairburn, Ga.
Rebecca Robbins, Stanhope Elmore High School, Millbrook
Ymani Wince, McCluer North High School, Florissant, Mo.