Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop for High School Students

Below are blogs written by two students who attended the program last summer and photos from the session:

By Kristen Handel, New Jersey

I really enjoyed the investigative journalism workshop at Boston University. The teachers with the program did a great job teaching us the fundamentals of journalism and what it’s really all about. Journalism is very different from what most people see it as, and this program opens the students up to learn more about it. The teachers are amazing, and very educated on investigative journalism. Joe and Maggie were great with everyone and the whole program itself was organized and fun. Everyone became friendly with each other which made the workshop all the more fun. It was a great experience for me, and if any one is interested in going into journalism the workshop will prepare you!

By Laurien Rose, Massachusetts

The last day of the journalism program, I cried a lot. Actually, everyone cried a little (even if only on the inside). I had no desire to leave. I wanted to continue going forward with my stories and seek out new ones. I wanted more of the never-ending puzzle that was investigative journalism – looking for leads, finding ones, getting false hopes and bad information, then having to retrace your steps back to the beginning.

Joe Bergantino became a father-like figure to all of us. He made us smile and laugh, but he also taught us valuable things about the job (and how competitive it is). He was always there for us and ready to give us constructive criticism when we needed it. Maggie was also absolutely wonderful. I was not in her writing group, but she taught her students how to organize information in Excel spread sheets and narrow down topics until they all finally had unique leads. I learned a lot of that through my roommate, Cydney, who was a part of Maggie’s boating story group. Listening to Lisa and Rochelle share their personal stories and talk about how journalism affects their life was totally inspiring. One very valuable thing that both of them learned and taught us was that no matter how many people tell you your story is worthless, or that you are doing the public a bad service, if you have a hunch about a story and can find the right information to back it up – no matter how many tries it takes – you need to go for it. You can’t let anything or anyone stop you.

Helen’s classroom experience was so much fun. She gave us real life examples of every situation and made us work in groups to talk about things and work out real life problems. Also, coming from a school that does not offer a journalism class and doesn’t have a school newspaper, she provided the basic information for journalistic writing and went even further into it. She was willing to stop for any and all questions, and she was always able to make us laugh.

Boston is 40 minutes away from my house. The commute wasn’t too bad, but my parents figured I would have a much better experience if I stayed on campus with some of the other students. This is one of the things that I am most thankful for. I wish all the students of the program had stayed on campus! The first day was so nerve-racking, but Maggie paired everyone up perfectly. My roommate, Cydney, is someone that I will cherish in my heart for the rest of my life. I didn’t know two people could get so close within two weeks. I honestly consider her one of my best friends.  I even texted her the next morning and told her I missed waking up, rolling over, and seeing her sleeping with her dolphin stuffed animal. We had so much fun together.

Everyone got along. Usually, with high school students comes high school drama. But there was absolutely none within our group. I was so surprised that people from such vastly different backgrounds with such different cultures and interests could get along so well. Deborah, from Germany, was one of the first people I connected with (on Facebook!) and Raul, from Mexico, ended up being one of my closest friends. And our counselors were absolutely phenomenal. Josh was the first person I met, and he was willing to give me any and all information I needed. And Sarah became one of my closest friends. Not only did she take our group out to site-see (with her phenomenal tour guide skills), but she was willing to talk to us about college life and the campus area. I’m Facebook friends with both of them. Everyone got along. Usually, with high school students comes high school drama. But there was absolutely none within our group.

One of the things most students worry about (no matter what school they’re in, whether it be elementary, high school, college..) is the cafeteria food. The first day in the dorms, a girl across the hall told us that we would get sick of it, but Cydney and I ate there every day for at least two of our three meals. The cafeteria provides students with all they can eat, for just one meal point, and everyday, the menu is a little different. Pizza and hamburgers are always there, but they also had burritos, deli sandwiches, ice cream, cakes, brownies, cookies, cereal, soda, juice, coffee, cappuccino, chai tea, eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries, a salad bar, a fruit bar… the possibilities were endless, and the food was absolutely amazing. I had no complaints.

But now I am back in real life, and suffering through the college application process. I am definitely applying to BU, due to my amazing summer experience, and hoping to get some written recommendations from both Maggie and Joe. To all the high school students out there who have even considered majoring in journalism through college and pursuing a career in it, I strongly suggest you take two weeks out of your summer to enroll in this program. Even if you find out that journalism is not the right career path for you, I promise you will not regret this amazing experience.