2024 in Review

FYJI is proud to announce a free, two-week journalism summer program over Zoom! FYJI's Journalism Summer Program will take a deep-dive into the complex world of journalism and will help middle school students aspiring to pursue journalism in high school with the skills needed to navigate the field. Below is the planned session framework, and sign up below!

Week 1- 

• Monday-Wednesday: Journalism leaders present FYJI-made slideshows to students over Zoom and will carefully craft lesson plans around student interests and needs. The basics of article writing involve both student creativity and the use of a diverse vocabulary, practicing both the students' ability to form complex and informative bodies of text. Topics will include introductions to Associated Press (AP) Style, news writing, article structure, feature writing, sports writing and the editing process. These slideshows are created by FYJI leaders with multiple years of high school journalism and editing experience to aid students in understanding key aspects of journalism.

• Thursday: Interviewing and question-making lesson. An important aspect of journalism  – particularly, feature writing – is the pre-reporting press. This includes gathering information about key figures to interview and preparing questions that are specific and direct to the person. Not only are the quotes a journalist receives from an interview one of the most important parts of an article, but interviewing itself greatly fills students with confidence and interpersonal skills. FYJI leaders will spend a day using slideshows and breakout room activities on Zoom to aid aspiring journalists in learning the necessary components of interviewing and pre-reporting.

• Friday: FYJI leaders are in close contact with notable figures in the writing and artistic fields and will provide student participants an opportunity to put their learned skills to the test. Students will be able to ask questions to such respected figures and write informative articles using the information collected from interviews. FYJI leaders will post all articles to families at the end of the two-week program following a round of edits.

Week 2-

• Monday-Thursday: Students will make a cumulative, mock newspaper using all skills in the preceding week with the help of FYJI leaders. Students will write about news, features and sports articles within their close communities, allowing students to practice the process of interviewing and reaching out to interviewees in a timely manner. FYJI leaders will edit and provide tailored feedback to students and compile all articles into a printable or digital newspaper. One of the most rewarding aspects of journalism is being able to see your artistic product being published, and that is the goal of FYJI's Summer Program – to offer students the ability to learn beyond generic subjects like writing and explore fields that can compel them to take greater interest in the world around them.

• Friday: Showcase day!! Parents and families of students will be able to view the product of students' work over the past two weeks.