The University of Oregon School of Journalism hosts student journalists across the state for their annual Fall Media Day. The day starts out with a keynote speaker, before a variety of workshops and classes, taught by experts, professors, and other high school students! The day also includes tours of the building, and competitions, and critiques.
This past December on the 9th, the Voices of Roosevelt team attended media day for the second time. The keynote speaker this year was Scott Greenstone, who covers politics working with various Seattle based radios stations including KUOW, KNKX, and the Seattle times. He gave a fun and insightful introduction before the day began. It took place in the student union building or the EMU, which had lots of classrooms, work spaces, and restaurants available to us. Although we noticed the event was nearly overbooked this year, we had amazing opportunities to learn new publications and journalism skills through workshops including layout, photography, leadership, design, resume writing, and sports media. We left multiple breakout sessions excited to apply ideas we learned to future papers. We also had the opportunity during our break to get lunch, walk around the campus, and find fun landmarks.
In addition, Media Day also had multiple teaching, leadership, and editing focused sessions for journalism advisors and editors. During students’ lunch break, they hosted a lunch in, which our advisor Ms. Tara said was beneficial and a chance to “connect with other advisors” as well as meet new people outside of our district. Advisor breakout sessions were also available, which Ms. Tara attended, and was able to discuss things like “Grading, Timelines, and how to properly fund programs” with other advisors and overall how to make programs work. Our editors also had the chance to hear critiques of our October printed issue we brought to media day, at the editors round-table. Besbris, (Our managing editor) found editor specific activities interesting and enjoyed watching the rest of the team have their first media day experience and bond as a team.
Additionally, this February has been recognized as Career Technical Education month among the CTE community. Portland Public schools released a campaign; “Have you CTE” to display the hands-on opportunities for high school students through the program. According to a district office press release from Chris Brida, director of CTE, the campaign plans to feature student success stories, highlight community connection/partnerships, and create engagement on social media. CTE provides students with valuable opportunities like hands-on learning experiences and application to real world careers, like JEA conventions!
The Oregon Journalism Education Association (OJEA), also offers Spring Media Day at the University of Oregon Portland Campus as well as Fall Media Day. The Journalism Education Association (JEA) runs a National Conference twice a year, which the Voices of Roosevelt team will be attending in Seattle for the first time this April! Media Day was a great opportunity to make new connections and we’re excited to continue being involved in a larger community!
