Thursday, September 4th marked the first ever inter-district Journalism and Media and Publications workshop located at the district office. The convention brought together schools from all over the district to improve the skills of their Media and Publications students based on the tracks they chose, including copy writing, designing a yearbook spread, storytelling with photography, and newspaper publication. Our yearbook advisor and Media and Publications teacher, Marianne Kim, highlights how the skills taught at this workshop will improve her students and the future yearbook: “It’s honing in on skills that they already had, and making those skills better,” Kim continues, “gaining a new perspective on how to use the skills they already have through the words and the lessons of industry professionals.”
The convention is filled with lessons run by industry professionals and advanced students with experience, providing the students attending with advanced industry knowledge that will stick with them long after graduation. For example, the photography workshop, led by Syden Lovan, John Dowd, and Taryn Kaahanui teaches students with a passion for photography how to utilize their surroundings to tell a story and how to work with their camera to get the best quality. Junior Janiya Cobham, who took the photography course, reflects on how the workshop helped her better her understanding of photography techniques, “It’s not just about taking pictures, it’s about understanding how your camera works and being able to maneuver it and create your art the way you want to.” Additionally, the lessons also focused on the ability to tell stories with one’s photography, as Janiya continues to illustrate, “It is about knowing that if someone looks at your picture they know what’s going on they know there’s emotions and there’s a story behind it.”
The convention isn’t just about learning, but also about implementing these skills in real world contexts, emphasized with the competition at the end of the convention. The competition is between the students in their respective workshops, submitting pieces utilizing the skills developed during their time at the convention. For the copy competition, students were tasked to create a strongly detailed feature story with proper format that engages the reader. Similarly, the photo competition had students taking a photo using their cellphone or DSLR camera, taken using properties they went over in their workshop. Then, students submitted one photo for specific types of composition: action shot, posed shot, leading lines, fill the frame, and more. Finally, the design competition had students create their own design of yearbook spreads using samples and modules from their sessions. The competition puts the students’ teachings on display and also creates room for feedback and further teaching based on their creation.
This first convention marks the start of an annual event that will continue to arm students with advanced techniques for newspaper and yearbook, bettering our Thunder Media on all accounts. This will create a tradition for students to learn how to tell the story of our school in a multitude of ways for years to come.