On April 25, Griffith’s Publication’s staff from the Panther Press and Yearbook Class went to Ball State for a journalism conference. There, they learned new techniques and skills they could apply to their work. “I think it gave everyone who went an opportunity to do better on their work and improve,” said freshmen Alexandra Perez of the Panther Press.
The publications classes at Griffith High School have not been to a conference since 2019, partly because of Covid-19. This, along with changes to the publication’s classes, including teacher turnover, caused the program to shrink in size. To counteract this, the field trip was planned to build up publications, increase student opportunities, and teach journalistic skills.
The trip was funded by Valentine’s Day pretzel grams, and a bake sale. These were sold during lunch hours for high school, and sometimes middle school, students.
The CCIM program, as it was during the field trip, was an assortment of sessions or small classes that focused on teaching/informing attendees on certain skills pertaining to the session. The day was broken up into one minor session at the start of the day, and four regular sessions throughout the rest. Sessions were an hour and a half each, while the minor session was only thirty minutes. Sessions ranged from how to make a documentary, to how people should be authoring articles. Sessions were designed for most fields of journalism like photography, writing, and yearbook design.
The conference, however, was more than just sessions. Around the buildings were tables for more information about the different programs offered by Ball State. Students could ask questions and learn more about the campus and its offered courses. Along with that staff were walking around making sure people knew where they were heading and helping people get where they needed to go. In the middle of the day, guest speaker Jennifer Prandato went on stage to present their personal experience. They explained the difficulties, how to get past road bumps, and taught some organizational skills along the way.
Some of the sessions attended were sessions on the creation of ideas, and how writing starts before you type. The first gave a step-by-step guide on how to invent ideas for a writing assignment. Starting with a focus on stories that matter, and giving some brainstorming ideas, like putting Post-it notes on the wall. The second session featured IndyStar sportswriter Gregg Doyel. This session focused on paying attention to what happens during an event rather than the event itself. Educating attendees with previous stories, covering both successes and losses. One of the event’s highlights was that sophomore Asher Harris could go live on radio at Ball State, being brought on during an intermission between songs and transitioning to the next.
CCIM was started in 1966 by Dr. Louis Ingelhart as a series of workshops surrounding journalism during the summer. 165 students took part in the first ever CCIM event held at Ball State. Now, the event has had over one thousand people take part in the program.
The conference was a major success for those who went. “I would 100% recommend anyone who [is] interested in journalism whatsoever or maybe doesn’t know what to do in college,” said Harris. The students who went learned new ways to perform their tasks and improve the skills they already knew.
When asked about these types of events in the future, Yearbook and Panther Press adviser Ms. Larson said, “We’re definitely going to do it every year, and if it’s not JDay, we’ll go to a different one.”
