From “Campus Sports Media” led by Naismith Hall of Fame writer J.A. Adande to “Writing Reviews” with former People editor Cynthia Wang, cherubs signed up for workshops to learn about a variety of mediums in journalism on a deeper level.
Nikhil Daniel from Windermere, Florida, attended the “Documentary Do’s and Don’t’s” and “Writing Your Best for Broadcast” workshops this year.
“We dove into script writing,” Daniel said. “We were on desk, and it was a really cool experience.”
Many of the workshops had only 15 students and met in small groups, a far cry from the 90-student lectures in the cavernous Fisk 217 auditorium. Margy Burgoon of Winnetka, Illinois, said she found the workshop classes to be more personalized than the daytime sessions.
“There were a lot fewer people, so I feel like [the workshops] were a little bit more intimate and it was less intimidating to ask questions,” Burgoon said. “It was interesting to get to hear what they had to say from a really inside perspective.”
Perhaps some of the most unique perspectives came from guest instructors, including Bret Begun, a Bloomberg Businessweek editor, who offered “Profile Writing.”
“He gave a lot of personal stories about how he interviewed a race car driver for the entire day and drove around with him,” Burgoon said.
Director Roger Boye said the workshops add diversity to the curriculum and allowed students to pick lectures they’re interested in.
Kai Shah of Burlingame, California, dove deep into the “Campus Sports Media” workshop.
Shah said, “You want to learn from the greats.”
