Looking for innovation? Check out your public schools, where the entire district can collaborate to develop new ideas and sustain them, and where districts can exchange and incubate good ideas and practices.
On June 5, the Southold Independent School District honored high school students engaged in broadcast journalism. Representatives of schools from across Long Island gathered for the inaugural Broadcast Awards for Senior High, or B.A.S.H. It is believed to be the first event of its kind, recognizing students for their achievements in broadcasting.
Thirty-eight videos made by students were judged by a panel of experts from the broadcasting industry.
“A special lifetime achievement award [was] presented to the students and staff at Great Neck South Middle School in recognition of their longstanding commitment to such programs, which began at their school 65 years ago; Great Neck South Middle School is believed to have been the very first public school to offer a professional broadcasting program for students, circa 1952.”
Awards were given in categories such as “Best Opening Segment,” “Best Anchor Team,” “Best Sports Package,” “Most Entertaining Package,” “Best School News Package,” “Best Public Service Announcement,” and “Best Broadcast.”
The format of the event was akin to the Emmy Awards, with a red carpet and celebrity guests.
Superintendent David Gamberg said:
“In a society that grapples with how to teach young people to be responsible digital citizens, navigating the news and entertainment landscape is an important challenge faced by schools and communities throughout the United States. This program helps to recognize and celebrate how students can learn this important civic responsibility, as well as recognize various skills involved in media, journalism and the broader field of communications.”
Sounds like a well developed effort to help students understand the opportunities and challenges of emerging technology.
C-Span also offers a competition for student video journalists. The videos I have seen are impressive, but the issues and criteria are less diverse. That is a national competition with more losers than winners.
The program you have reported on has the virtue of being part of a tradition and formal education with a celebration that merits local publicity.
Since 1924, the Journalism Education Association (JEA) has been doing something similar for a long time at the regional, state, and national level for thousands of school.
When I was the high school journalism teacher/advisor for seven years of the thirty I was a teacher, I took my journalism students to the regional, and if they qualified there, to the state competitions. Students who qualified for the nationals usually went with their parents.
The JEA’s mission:
“The Journalism Education Association supports free and responsible scholastic journalism by providing resources and educational opportunities, by promoting professionalism, by encouraging and rewarding student excellence and teacher achievement, and by fostering an atmosphere which encompasses diversity yet builds unity.”
http://jea.org/
There is also Quill and Scroll
Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists was organized April 10, 1926, at the University of Iowa by renowned pollster George H. Gallup and a group of high school advisers for the purpose of encouraging and recognizing individual student achievement in journalism and scholastic publication.
Since its founding, school charters have been granted to more than 14,267 high schools in all 50 states and 44 foreign countries. Media advisers in chartered schools are eligible to recommend outstanding high school journalism students for membership in Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society.
http://quillandscroll.org/staff
The high school newspaper I was the advisor/teacher for won several international awards from Quill and Scroll because of the quality of the paper the students produced.
http://quillandscroll.org/staff
Thanks for doing those things with students, Lloyd. ACT found that participation inHigh school journalism was a strong predictor of success in later life.
Your welcome. That journalism class was an elective and most if not all of those students planned to go to college and did go. They worked hard. It wasn’t that uncommon for some of the staff to show up as early as 6 AM in the morning, get out of as many classes as possible to work on the paper, work through lunch, and still be there after 10 PM. The only reason we left was the alarms were being turned on and the school’s custodians told us we had to leave.
The public schools are where America becomes a great and innovative community of young and old diverse citizens. Public education makes America great. Charter schools and voucher options rip off public tax money from public schools for privateers like DeVos and her friends who want to segregate Americans into religious and racial groups.