High-school students introduced to journalism

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A. Sue Weisler

RIT co-hosts the Taub Scholars Multimedia Journalism Academy with the Democrat and Chronicle through July 27. High school students will learn about multimedia journalism as taught in the Department of Communication’s journalism program.

A new partnership between Rochester Institute of Technology and the Democrat and Chronicle will introduce six area high school students to the world of multimedia journalism.

Through July 27, potential future journalists who will be high school seniors this fall will attend the Taub Scholars Multimedia Journalism Academy. Two days of the program (July 25-26) will be held at RIT and three days of the program will be held at the Democrat and Chronicle offices in downtown Rochester. During the program, students will get hands-on instruction in journalism with an emphasis on reporting and producing stories for multiple platforms including Web, mobile, tablet and print. Sessions will be taught by RIT faculty and Democrat and Chronicle journalists.

During their time on the RIT campus, the high school students will interact with current RIT journalism students and have the opportunity to “track down” and report campus stories occurring throughout the week. At the end of the program, the students will have produced online journalism pieces that include shooting video, taking photos, writing stories and utilizing social media such as Twitter and Facebook for story promotion.

“We are delighted to be working with the Democrat and Chronicle on this project, as it combines journalism and education, gives us an opportunity to expose local high school students to leading-edge journalism practice and education here at RIT, and further cements our strong relationship with our city’s newspaper,” says Patrick Scanlon, chairperson of RIT’s Department of Communication. “The Taub Academy is a fine example of community partnering—the university, the newspaper, high schools—to help young people from diverse backgrounds explore professional opportunities before they begin their college searches.”

The students attend free of charge and will earn a $200 stipend from a memorial fund honoring the late Peter Taub, a former journalist at the now defunct Times-Union.