Four members of the Darlington Community from The Darlingtonian staff joined over 235 journalism students at the 5th Annual Media Now STL High School Digital Media Summer Camp at Maryville University in St. Louis. Attendees took part in various workshops that helped build and refine skills and technique to bring back to Darlington’s growing media arts presence.
During the three-day journalism "boot camp," students learned and networked in small cohorts alongside participants from all over the nation, receiving instruction and critique from experts in their respective fields—editors, writers, videographers, professors and student media advisers.
“Going to these kinds of conferences helps you see that there is a method to the madness, and it helps you figure out how to do things the right way,” said rising junior Emily Orr. “I’m a big fan of constructive criticism because it helps me when I get to hear those pointers from someone else.”
Over 15 different guided courses of study were offered at this year’s camp.
Orr, the managing editor of The Darlingtonian, learned how to write more quickly and efficiently for deadlines in the conference’s writing track. Junior Matthew McConnell, the social media editor who can often be seen on campus with a camera in tow, enrolled in the mobile video and live broadcasting track for smart devices. Senior Ethan Pender spent his time on the editorial leadership track, where he learned how to effectively manage the student media staff for the upcoming school year.
“There are all of these processes that you go through to get to the final product—the big picture,” said Pender, who serves as editor-in-chief for the Jabberwokk and The Darlingtonian. “I think it is really important to meet with others like yourself who can give you suggestions on the tasks at hand, and trade advice.”
At the camp, communications teacher Adrienne Forgette attended workshops for advisers that centered on sharing best practices and curriculum ideas, as well as learning about new hands-on digital media tools for student publications.
At the close of the conference, each workshop instructor picked three students from their cohort to recognize at a final awards ceremony, where Darlington's Pender was honored with the "CEO Award."
"[He] showed passion, dedication and a drive unlike most campers,” said Mitch Eden, an award-winning journalism teacher and the leader of Pender’s group of students. “He was hungry for feedback and thoughtful in discussion. He is passionate about improving Darlington's media program in all areas.”
Forgette has seen a sizable spike in interest in student media leadership since she joined Darlington’s Fine Arts department at the beginning of the 2014-15 school year.
“Last year was a building year. Our kids realize that next year they can really springboard,” said Forgette. “They are ready to hit the ground running.”
The student media team has already started planning ways to implement new strategies and tools that were explored in Missouri, including expanded video offerings and the use of Snapchat and other smart phone applications to tell the Darlington story from a student’s perspective.
This fall, Upper School students will have the opportunity to register for an expanded roster of media arts classes within Darlington’s Fine Arts program, including Sports & Arts Media, Intro to Media Arts, and Advanced Media: Yearbook. Each class will delve into important foundational pieces of the curriculum including the First Amendment, reporting, broadcast journalism, graphic design and photojournalism.
“I believe that you should expose kids right away to these ideas, and then they will become experts,” added Forgette.
Next March, media arts students will travel to New York to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Conference. Additional learning opportunities for summer 2016 are already being discussed.
“They walked away [from Media Now STL] with a lot of confidence,” said Forgette. “It validated a lot of what I was teaching because they heard it from someone else. It gave them a razor sharp focus for what they want to accomplish in 2015-16.”
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