On Saturday, Oct. 22, we hosted our second workshop for high school journalism students. We had 36 students representing 14 San Diego area high schools. The free workshop was designed to help students and faculty advisors learn about news in the digital age. Community engagement was a common thread with each of our presenters.
One highlight of the workshop: the students presented their own work and displayed their websites over a pizza lunch.
We’ve been thrilled to watch digital journalism rapidly sweep through San Diego schools. Many traditional student newspapers were struggling to survive or had been shut down amidst budget cuts.
But online student-run sites offer the chance for the young journalists to publish stories more frequently and to get experience managing a technological resource.
Last year, Point Loma High School won best website in our inaugural journalism contests. But this year, the competition will be more stiff. We heard Saturday that several schools were planning to make the plunge.
Here is a handy list of the schools that have launched student news sites, including the first site we helped: Voices of Lincoln, at Lincoln High School.
If your school is interested in switching to a digital site, we can help plug you in to this circuit. Contact Camille@voiceofsandiego.org and we’ll help and come speak to the students.
And stay tuned for the announcement of next year’s digital journalism contest for students.