Student Journalists in the “Spotlight” at The Boston Globe

The Boston Globe is supporting our student journalists once again after inviting GHS journalists Maria Kotob, Caroline Enos, and Gianna Cabral to an event for high school news writers on May 19th.

After listening to Spotlight reporter Michael Rezendes discuss his Pulitzer Prize winning story, talking about the values of pursuing journalism with a Boston Globe CEO, and hearing local organizations present options for summer courses, students left the Globe with a broad sense of what opportunities lay ahead for them in the field of journalism.

“My favorite part was hearing Mr. Rezendes speak about Spotlight and himself,” said Cabral. “He truly is an inspiration to people around the world, and has made a significant impact on so many lives.”

Rezendes’ discussion about the Spotlight Team gave students an inside look into the world of investigative journalism.

“Our mission is to hold powerful people and organizations accountable for what they do,” said Rezendes. “We look for a situation that’s harming many people or when public officials are profiting illegally.”

The most popular story the Spotlight Team has covered was the Catholic Church sex scandal in the early 2000s. Because of the impact its investigation had, Cardinal Law fled to the Vatican, Pope Francis established a commission to study clergy sex abuse, and the public was finally made aware of the atrocities occurring in the Church.

“We really improved 10,000s of lives around the world and raised the level of consciousness of child abuse around the world and as a result, systematic changes in the Catholic Churches in America were made, as well as smaller changes in the Vatican.” said Rezendes.

“What I love about journalism is that anyone can play,” said Globe sports reporter John Vitti. “Having a journalism program in a school has a million benefits.”

“If you go through the door of journalism, it is a platform to do anything,” said Globe CEO of advertisements Mike Sheehan. “Anybody can teach a monkey to write, but to come up with a conventional idea is everything.”

Four opportunities were introduced to the students as summer courses to build off of their writing skills, and are open to teens who are not a part of journalism programs, as well. Ranging from one week to six week camps, teens are able to work with professional journalists and writers to strengthen their skills. Below are the different camps available to attend.

Grubb St. is a non-profit organization that leads the nation in creative writing centers. They host thirteen different week long sessions that focus on the creative aspect of writing. Throughout the week, teens will learn a fresh and better way to write creatively. Teens will also be able to use previous pieces of writing in the workshop to either enhance or use in new work. Each camper is given the opportunity to discuss published short stories, poems, and books, all while learning new writing exercises and about the different techniques one can use while writing poetry and fiction. In addition, it is a great way to make new friends who share the interest of writing. There are also extra classes every Friday after school throughout the rest of the year.

Here is the link to sign up:

https://grubstreet.org/programs/for-teens/writing-camp/

The New England Center for Investigative Reporting is an independent nonprofit newsroom that works with Boston University and Long Scale Investment to train the next generation of investigative reporters. There are three two week camp sessions hosted at BU where teens will work on their writing skills, learn how to background people, work one-on-one with award-winning reporters, find data and sources to create an investigative report. Attendees will be able to publish their reports at the end of the course. Teens are given the choice to live in the college dorms throughout the extent of the camp or commute every morning. Teens must be 14 or older to attend.

Here is the link to sign up:

http://studentprograms.necir.org/high-school-summer-investigative-reporting-workshop/

826 Boston works with the American Repertory Theater to create a free program where, for five weeks in the summer, the instructors teach teens prestige writing skills. At the end of the course, attendees are given a hard copy of the script they created. There, teens will learn about journalism, teaching, and theater, and will be given the opportunity to publish your own book. In addition, students will write an original script as a group, rehearse it for four weeks, and perform it at the end of the camp. There is also a college essay boot camp available in the fall along with after school help as well.

Here is the link to sign up for the summer camp:

https://us2.proxysite.com/process.php?d=joV9rFmPUAAA0cnQRkPcgIpJJXxPmnl9qde2zTnEr%2BerGmCyJX0yQmtY7gKs2viECVH5nGE%2FmvwC5w%3D%3D&b=1

The college essay boot camp will be held on Saturday, October 17th, from 10am-4pm, Boston 826 will be partnering with Northeastern University for the one-day camp.

Here is the link to sign up:

https://us2.proxysite.com/process.php?d=joV9rFmPUAAA0cnQRkPcgIpJJXxPmnl9qde2zTnEv%2F2qG2CnbSQ%2FVHlN8l3jwuWZUFv2ljxz&b=1

Harvard Crimson is a 400-staffed student run newspaper. They offer three one-week long camps where the attendees learn about design, Photoshop, multimedia, photography, and layout for online and printed newspapers. They will also be taught about the workings of a bustling daily newspaper and how to handle them.  At the end of the camp, the students create their own newspapers to take home.

Here is the link to sign up:

http://programs.thecrimson.com/summer/registration/