High school students gathered at the USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism to improve their writing skills on Friday, Nov. 18. The day started with high expectations and eager students, and during the complementary breakfast in the Annenberg building, excited chatter echoed the mood. Students registered on the USC website ad chose from a variety of subjects to learn. Classes such as Know your Rights!, Investigative Journalism, Photojournalism, News Writing and more were offered for all high school students interested. The cost of the event was only five dollars and with limited amount of space for high schoolers, only few participated and even fewer were accepted. Workshops and panels were taught by faculty members from USC and professional journalists. Armando Brown and Marc Copper, both USC teachers, instructed classes to young newspaper and yearbook staff members.
“As a photojournalist you have to do whatever it takes to get that great picture,” speaker Brown said.
Students attending the Photojournalism class learned that carrying a notebook, even for photographers, is very helpful and a good journalistic tip. New techniques were also taught for shooting photographs such as the composition elements and working with angles.
“Even if the truth isn’t what you agree with its still the truth,” Marc Copper said.
The newspaper and yearbook students that signed up for “Ethics and Digital Age” learned new and interesting things with professor Copper. Beverly Hills, Dominguez Hills, Buena Park, Hover High, and Hollywood High all attended.
“I had a lot of fun and learned so much.” sophomore Ariel Camona said “ I recommend this to all high school students.”
As a young yearbook writer, Carmona took advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the field of journalism. The program was sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and hosted by the USC Annenberg School of Journalism. Over all, High School Journalism Day turned out to be a success and students were pleased with the turn out, and many students plan to come again.
