Tales from a high school journalism workshop

Jul 15, 2024

First of all, credit where credit is due. It only occurred to me to write about teaching at the Ohio University High School Journalism Workshop because I have read a lot of Connie Schultz, who has a gift for taking the ordinary and making it feel extraordinary. I tend to take things for granted, like standing in front of young people and teaching them. Schultz does not take such moments for granted. She savors them.

I love many things about the workshop – the idealism and enthusiasm of the students, our old friends who teach the other tracks, the student volunteers who give up their time each summer, and time with the leaders at Ohio University’s esteemed journalism school, of which I am a proud graduate.

My wife Jen Jones Donatelli has written hundreds of magazine articles, and I’ve been a digital editor at two magazines, which is why we were invited back to OU as alumni to teach the magazine track at one of the oldest workshops in the nation (est. 1946). If you’re a high school student who chanced across this piece while doing some research, you can find more information here.

The director of the school, Dr. Eddith Dashiell, gave opening remarks to the high schoolers, student volunteers and visiting professionals. What stood out is when she defined what the school stands for – the teaching of the journalism “skill set” that can be applied across multiple types of media today and to those not yet invented. The platforms change. The basic job does not. I’m a living testament to this philosophy – I began my career working for a wire service that served a newspaper chain, moved to digital startups, freelanced, worked full-time for magazines and am now employed in television news. I was asked once to summarize my career path, and my response was, “Survival.”

All of the alumni teachers introduced themselves and their tracks in the opening session, and while I now enjoy working in TV news, I’m the kind of person who has spent untold hours of his life reading Rick Reilly, William Langewiesche, Michael Kelly, Nancy Gibbs, Hunter S. Thompson and other magazine greats. After my wife introduced herself and talked about what we’d be teaching, I pointed out that the national conversation about President Biden’s age (on the day I spoke) was being driven by Olivia Nuzzi’s latest piece in New York magazine. It’s a story she began investigating over the winter. Magazine writers still matter.

We had seven students in our class. Like with any newsroom, they were different in their skills, passions and personalities. One student came from Atlanta. Her mom signed her up for the workshop. (She wound up being one of our most eager and curious students.) Another student was participating in the workshop for the third time. Still another was the photo and graphics editor of her high school paper. One said she wanted to explore magazine writing as a style (she was a rising sophomore and would end up being one of the best writers in the class.) One go-getter started a news magazine at her school and kept encouraging other students to launch their own publications. A student who turned out to be a thoughtful writer had a deep interest in music as both a singer and a writer (and formed a bond with our 8-year-old daughter over their love of musicals and acting.) Another student said her English teacher encouraged her to come. There weren’t that many writing opportunities at her school.

The workshop lasts four days, which is just enough time for introductory concepts and an assignment to be handed in, critiqued and excerpted for a final presentation.

For their assignment, our students attended a press conference with the mayor of Athens, Steve Patterson. We asked them to treat the press conference like an interview for a magazine story and to write a first draft for one of three campus publications: Backdrop (audience of students), Ohio Today (alumni) or Southeast Ohio (the region). Patterson spoke to the students about Athens launching a sister city program with Ostroh, Ukraine, in support of that nation after it was invaded by Russia. The students took the task seriously, asking smart questions. I was proud of our group.

While our students wrote, each of the other tracks reported projects of their own, all to be presented on the final day of the workshop.

At that last session, Dashiell once again spoke to the students, and she told a story about learning to play the sport of soccer after age 50. Dashiell tells the soccer story better than I ever could, but I’ll highlight the wisdom – she was encouraging the young student journalists to be persistent. When you’re a journalist, that’s the ballgame – persistence.

Each of the track presentations was impressive.

The public relations track executed “journalism with a purpose” (leave it to PR to put the perfect spin on their own work) with a deeply detailed transition plan for a hospital system CEO. One of the funniest moments of the week was during the PR Q-and-A when students were asked about the ethics of only sharing information that made the hospital system look good. A high schooler responded, “We’re not lying. We’re selectively withholding the truth.” She’s ready for the big time.

News had the largest group, and they focused on tight writing, defining the introduction to a news story as “who did what to, or for, whom, when and where.” Their articles looked ready for AP.

Design was there to remind us that the ability to draw attention to journalism in a world filled with endless distractions is more necessary than ever.

A sports writing student talked about interviewing and said something many journalists ought to remember – keep the question simple so your source can answer it properly.

The podcasters underscored the infinite number of niche topics that journalists can explore.

The photo students told stories with their pictures and videos and talked about the value of curiosity, which, in addition to persistence, is another key journalism skill.

The broadcast track, which was huge, executed five different packages, all of which had the elements of an actual report you’d see on TV news. I am more and more convinced the longer I work in local TV news that there is no greater daily miracle in journalism than producing visually compelling news reports from scratch starting at 9:45 a.m. with a full report on the air at 5. It was a credit to the students that they were able to come together as strangers and pull off the daily miracle.

As for our magazine track, they told stories, they painted pictures with words, they added layers, all without a generous New York magazine deadline. I’ll share one excerpt from an article about Mayor Patterson’s visit to Ostroh, the hilly university town with which Athens, Ohio, now shares a sister city connection.

Patterson went to meet young students at a lyceum. With tears in his eyes, he described his experience, with teachers instructing their classes not to touch anything that is left for them or gifted to them, due to the far too common dangers of weaponized toys exploding when they are played with. Patterson’s voice rose, and his body tightened. “Why the hell would anyone try to kill an innocent child?” With his voice breaking, Patterson inhaled and continued. He recounted walking through the halls of the lyceum, analyzing the lines of artwork hanging on the walls. He described the artwork as dark and disturbing, not mentioning what the children were drawing specifically. But he recalled one girl who drew one sunny and optimistic picture. She was the only one. The mayor has this picture hanging in his office today.

We told her it was a great piece of writing, and to keep going.

We need more like her.

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Joyride

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