‘Our love for journalism bonds us together.’
Article by Levi Foster
From July 7th to July 10th, students from across the country traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, where Drake University hosted a special event: a journalism camp held by Media Now.
All students are welcome, whether they are from Iowa or not, or if they aren’t planning on being a journalist in the future.
One of those students is Maddie Lehman, a rising junior at Johnston High School. Although she serves for The Black and White, Johnston’s student-run newspaper, Lehman was not planning on pursuing journalism in the long run or even attending Media Now.
“I was invited by this girl in the communications track, [because] we’re both doing newspaper together,” Lehman states. “I’m going to be a civil engineer. Why would I go to a Drake camp for journalism? [I] eventually applied for it, and she was 100% right, this camp is phenomenal.”
For over 15 years, Media Now has been one of the most successful journalism camps in the state. Their approach: provide campers with a typical summer camp experience while pairing that with classes that help each camper become a better journalist. In order to help students become better journalists, teachers from across the country come to camp as instructors to teach and assist students.
One of these instructors is Michael Admire. A former sports reporter for WHO-13 and current Director of Broadcasting at Drake University, Admire serves as the sports broadcasting instructor, providing students with valuable insights on how to become a broadcaster and pursue a career in sports journalism.
“One thing I’ve kind of challenged the students to do this week is to learn the traditional way of storytelling, that’s foundational and can translate into all sorts of different ways,” Admire states, “But for them to also be nimble enough and ready enough to adapt and embrace new trends.”
Admire fell in love with journalism at a camp similar to Media Now when he was in high school. Now, Admire wants to give back and provide students with the same opportunity he had years ago.
“The group is great, the students are eager, [and] it’s just a true summer camp. Kids get to go play and screw around for a couple of days, but they’re learning a bit along the way,” Admire states. “I want these guys to leave here with a fond memory [where] they had fun at a journalism camp. I appreciate what these student journalists do, and whether they decide to be one someday or take a different path, at least they have an idea of what this industry is about.”
During camp, students had the opportunity to gain real-world experience and travel to different locations depending on what class they were in. The photography class visited the East Village and covered various city-wide events. The writing class went to Casey’s Center to interview players from the Iowa Barnstormers, the sports broadcasting class took tours of Principal Park and WHO-13 Studios, while other courses took their own field trips around Des Moines.
“The field trips were cool,” Finnegan Blair states, “They were a neat way to increase my photography skills and [learn] how to better use ISO and shutter speed.”
Although there is an emphasis on journalism and learning, Media Now schedules plenty of time for students to get a true summer camp experience. While on campus, students participated in a talent show, made tie-dye shirts, played various yard games such as 9-Square and pickleball, and more.
These activities come with some healthy competition between the groups. Every class competes to earn points to earn the right to wear either a llama head or a shark head for the top two classes. Although the prize for being one of the top two classes doesn’t seem that appealing, campers take this friendly competition very seriously.
“I hate sports media. Sports media sucks,” Lehman says with a smile. “Everyone has different teams that they’re against, but our biggest [rival] as the writers is the sports media group. They’re trying to take away our shark hat, and we can’t let that happen.”
Despite all the friendly rivalries and underlying competitive tension among the groups, it’s all for fun at the end of the day.
“They’re all amazing people. They’re not in my group, but they are the nicest people ever,” Lehman states. “There’s no judgment at this point. We’re all high school students, all here for the same thing, all kind of nerdy. ”
After all the classroom sessions, games, and activities, students head back to the dorms to hang out, order food, sing songs, and connect with new people who share similar interests.
“Getting to hang out with all these like-minded people, people who are also interested in everything with you, and then getting to regroup at night and just hang out and talk about the day.” Mason Moliter states, “It’s been an absolute blast so far; it’s been so cool.”
After one final meeting and an awards ceremony that highlighted some of the work the campers did, everyone returned home with new knowledge, experiences, and friendships.
“The time [here] is nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Our love for journalism bonds us together; it’s an indescribable thing that we’ve experienced every day,” Lehman states.