McAllen's journalism students explore new techniques at weeklong conference
In today’s technology-obsessed society, we can get our news from almost any media outlet on our computers at home, a laptop in a fast food joint or via an application for our phones.
McAllen Memorial High School’s publications adviser, Kelsey Martin, has been teaching journalism and yearbook for 18 years. Several students who are taking journalism, yearbook and newspaper at Memorial join Martin in the summer at a high school journalism and yearbook workshop at Texas A&M University in College Station.
There are several courses at the four-day retreat for students interested in yearbook, photography and journalism.
“They offer yearbook sessions, newspaper, photography and broadcast,” Martin said. “In yearbook, at one point we made the cover design. And the kids develop our book for the next year.”
For the first time ever, Martin had the McAllen High School and Nikki Rowe High School journalism departments attend the camp at the end of July along with her students. In total, 24 Rio Grande Valley aspiring writers and photographers traveled nearly 400 miles to learn different types of writing and how to design newspapers and yearbooks.
“Now photography is all digital,” Martin said. “They’re learning how to take the photos and use Photoshop. In paper they’re learning about newspaper design, column writing and feature writing.”
“I’ve always wanted to do photography, so I decided to take a photography course (at camp),” said Tess Cagle, a sophomore at Memorial.
The 15-year-old said she attended the camp to prepare for her next few years in yearbook. Photojournalism for “Time” magazine is something she’s always wanted to do, she said. And when she does keep up with news, she gets it from different sources.
“I try to watch ‘Good Morning America’ every morning,” Tess said. “And for McAllen, I always go to themonitor.com. I check CNN.com for national news.”
Camp isn’t just for students learning the ropes – as an adviser, Martin continues to benefit each year she makes it north for the workshop.
“Every year I learn something new,” Martin said. “The big push right now is online newspaper.”
The school has yet to approve the online newspaper Martin has been pushing for the past three years.
“I think to better prepare my students I need to go with an online newspaper,” Martin said.
Martin’s newspaper staff tries to produce a school paper every six weeks, and they offer students the publication for free. Funds are limited, and Martin said the school could save a lot of money if she were allowed to publish online.
“The world of journalism is changing and should be for high schools, too,” she said. “(Readers) want to see video. They want to see stuff versus just reading about it. They want that interaction.”
The school newspaper would realistically be updated weekly, but ideally updated daily, Martin said.
Aside from giving students instant gratification from seeing their stories published quickly, they would also have instant feedback on those articles.
“They could become better writers and become more in touch with what students want,” Martin said.
More importantly, those interested in journalism would learn about video and online publishing.
“It would open up a new world to my students,” Martin said. “They would be able to understand the computer part of it. They probably already know. It’s going to be a bigger change for me. I’m 42 and I’ve been teaching for 18 years.”
Ultimately, Martin’s students would be able to build their portfolio.
“I’m preparing my kids for the future,” Martin said. “I have a responsibility to prepare them for that.”
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Amy Nichol Smith covers features and entertainment for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4420.
