Learn journalism this summer
right from where you are
Learn-from-Home Option: Two weeks of instruction and hands-on reporting
This two-week online program is designed for high school students attending grades 9, 10, 11 or 12 in the fall of 2024, as well as students who graduate this spring. Previous experience in journalism is useful but not required. Classes are Monday through Friday each week, in three sessions:
- A. June 16 to 27, 2025
- B. June 30 to July 11, 2025
- C. July 14 to 25, 2024
Learn-from-Home applications: OPEN JAN. 2025
Classroom starts each day with a review of journalism fundamentals in a collegiate format. A university-level journalism textbook provides daily readings and writing assignments. Instructors cover: story ideas; sources and research; interviewing; writing leads; story structure; writing for broadcast and web; accuracy; libel; ethics; and more.
Note: Curriculum for students opting for the photojournalism track will share some topics but will focus more on the operation and use of the camera and the editing of their photos.
Newsroom divides students into reporter teams, each led by a professional journalist serving as their editor, to apply what they learn in the Classroom by reporting real news events near them. Students conduct interviews by phone, email and video to cover a wide range of stories, such as local city council proceedings, political races, sporting events, human interest features and environmental issues in their community. With guidance from their editor, students write three to four original stories over the two-week session for their personal portfolios. Stories are also shared on the academy’s news website, The Terrier.
Guest Talks offer students advice and insight from experts in specific topics, such as radio reporting, media law and studying journalism in college. Sessions feature three to four Guest Talks during each two-week session.
Typical Day Schedule:
- 12:30 pm Eastern / 9:30 am Pacific: Classroom: Instruction and activity focused on one skill.
- 1:30 pm / 10:30 am: Break
- 2 pm / 11 am: Newsroom: Story discussion and planning, followed by offline time for interviews, research and writing, as well as editing online with your in instructor.
- 5 pm / 2 pm: Guest Talks, when scheduled.