HNN's Annalisa Burgos (right) gives the campers a studio tour.

Young journalists learn PJ; produce great newspaper, videos
It’s not often I actually feel my advanced age. But try keeping up with 13 energetic, enthusiastic teenagers, and you’ll feel the burn, too. By the time our Summer Journalism Camp for high school students ended on Thursday, I was physically and intellectually spent, a 1961 Edsel out of gas abandoned by the side of the road, a wisp of steam wafting skyward from under the hood.

It was all for a good cause. The East-West Center (EWC) hosted the high school journalists from Oahu public and private schools in Hawaii’s first summer camp for young journalists. The camp went great. The students were effusive in their praise for the four day event, noting how the camp’s impactful presentations and hands-on activities prepared them for the upcoming school year and beyond.

Among my presentations, of course, was a discussion about peace journalism. I’ve given dozens of PJ seminars and lectures to college students and professional journalists, but never to high schoolers. As I created my lecture, it quickly became apparent how much PJ can apply in scholastic settings. Here is the advice I gave the students about applying PJ at their schools:

1. Give voice to the marginalized—Who are the invisible students at your school? What can you do to help them tell their stories, and bring them into the society at large?
2. Build bridges of understanding and common ground between different groups—freshmen and upperclassmen; athletes and others; different ethnic groups
3. Seek input from all groups when discussing/debating solutions
4. Tell stories that debunk myths like the lazy teen; the phone addicted teen; the teen who is disengaged from real world issues; the ADD teen; etc.
5. Not talking sides in policy debates; instead, insure all voices are heard
6. Dig deep to report about the causes of friction, conflict, and polarization (instead of just reporting the superficial conflict—a shouting match, a disagreement at a meeting, a boycott, etc.)
7. Tell stories that humanize, never using inflammatory, stereotyping language.

The Summer Camp newspaper

The young journalists also heard great advice from Cindy Reves, newspaper advisor at McKinley High School and camp co-director; Steve Rice, multimedia trainer; and professional journalists from Civil Beat (Thomas Heaton and Blaze Lovell) and Hawaii News Now (Annalisa Burgos), which hosted us for a visit last Wednesday. A lunch performance featuring EWC/UH students was also a highlight of the event.

The camp, sponsored by EWC and the Hawaii Scholastic Journalism Association, culminated with the students producing a 7-page newspaper and three news videos to accompany the articles. (QR codes embedded in the newspaper will lead you to the videos). The paper and videos are excellent, especially given the students’ relative inexperience and the truncated production time. 

The trainers were proud of the kids, their work ethic, and their intellectual curiosity. They were a delight to work with. (Delightful, but exhausting!) I hope this is only the first summer journalism camp at the EWC. It would be great next year if the camp brings in participants from the neighbor islands, too.

I look forward to seeing the outstanding journalism produced by these young journalists this school year.

Campers enjoy an intercultural performance on Tuesday.