Local students got a taste of college journalism and more at Northern Kentucky University's Journalism In The Digital Age Summer Camp.
The camp, run by Michele Day, a journalism professor at NKU, is a full week lasting about seven hours a day.
This is the second time around for the camp, but the structure of it has stayed the same. Students from eighth to 12th grade are broken off into groups with team leaders. Each group is assigned a certain topic about NKU such as the construction of the College of Informatics or the Bank of Kentucky Center, and they have to write stories, take pictures and shoot videos to post to the camp's Web site.
NKU students and faculty were also on hand to help campers along their way or teach them a few pointers on things such as writing their stories, taking pictures, shooting video, editing the video into a final project and to just be there if the campers have any questions.
Day also had the students learn new ways of digital storytelling from local journalists.
According to Day, the overall point of the camp is to get participants connected to journalism and how it's evolving.
"(The camp) makes people aware of what's going on," she said.
Instead of making the camp seem more like class, Day decided to go with a more hands-on approach.
"Every single mini lecture is accompanied by hands on activities," she said. "That is where you discover how fun (journalism) is."
One fellow camper Morgan Woeste, a senior at Campbell County High School, said her experience wasn't what she expected.
"I came in here expecting to get lectured and a college crash course in journalism," she said. "(But) its been a lot more than what I thought it would be."
Woeste, who plans to major in journalism when she attends college, was assigned to cover the Bank of Kentucky Center along with a few fellow campers.
When it came time to writing her story, Woeste said she just tried to sum up how well the Bank of Kentucky Center was doing.
"I was focusing on the success, how it has been doing and it's future plans," she said.
As for the future of the camp, Day notes she hasn't thought too much about it. But overall, she just hopes to do things better better and make the camp more efficient.
Day notes that students interested in journalism should consider applying to the camp.
"It's the best week ever," she said. "They (students) have been very busy ... They don't get bored."
