SAN FRANCISCO (U.S. ASIAN WIRE) – February 18, 2010 – The Asian American Journalists Association announced last week that Loyola Marymount University has offered to provide sponsorship of J Camp, a multicultural high-school journalism workshop.
Forty-two high school students from across the country will be selected to participate in the five-day program hosted by the university in Los Angeles, California from July 30-August 4, 2010.
“Loyola Marymount University is honored to have the AAJA J Camp on campus this summer,” said Celeste Durant, director of communications and media relations for LMU. “Training the next generation of journalists becomes increasingly important as communications change. We are excited to be a part of this camp and the students’ future as journalists.”
This year will mark the tenth anniversary of the program, which started in 2001. Since then, a total of 377 of the nation’s brightest young people have graduated from J Camp, which has the goal of developing the next generation of journalists.
The workshop brings together a diverse group of high school students from all racial and ethnic backgrounds to sharpen their journalism skills and work together in a unique learning environment. The curriculum consists of hands-on training with leading professional journalists, lectures from some of the industry’s biggest stars, and reporting field trips.
“We’re so grateful to our sponsors, including LMU and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, for helping us make the 10th anniversary of J Camp a very special year,” said program co-director, Clea Benson, senior writer at CQ Weekly, Congressional Quarterly’s weekly magazine in Washington, D.C. “In the current environment, it’s more important than ever to ensure that the best and brightest are in the pipeline to become the journalists of tomorrow.”
Angie Lau, anchor at Bloomberg’s Chicago Bureau and program co-director said the organization is thrilled to bring AAJA’s J Camp to Loyola Marymount University, adding that every year they choose a new group of J Camp students to be taught and inspired by some of the top media professionals in the country.
“This year, LMU is the perfect academic environment to do just that. J Camp has found a wonderful partner in LMU and we are grateful,” said Lau. “It is especially poignant for J Camp this year as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. We can’t think of a better spot in Los Angeles, nor find a finer academic partner that can help us nurture the next generation of journalists.”
Hailey Lee, a senior at Edina Senior High School and a 2009 member of J-Camp in Boston, writes for her school paper and other local ethnic media publications, was since named Minnesota’s top high school journalism senior by the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Awards.
She hopes to pursue a career in broadcast journalism, and will use the $1,000 scholarship and a trip to Washington, DC to attend a journalism conference.
The Asian American Journalists Association is a non-profit professional and educational organization with approximately 2,000 members across the United States and in Asia. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry.
AAJA’s mission is to encourage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of AAPIs, and to increase the number of AAPI journalists and news managers in the industry.
AAJA is an alliance partner in UNITY Journalists of Color, along with the Native American Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and National Association of Black Journalists. For more information, visit www.aaja.org.
