Eleven students attended the 2018 Donald W. Carson Journalism Diversity Workshop for Arizona High School Students last month, learning about reporting basics, media law and ethics, broadcast and multimedia journalism, design and editing, and different storytelling techniques.
The program, co-sponsored by the Don Carson Concerned Media Professionals fund, has been offered at the UA School of Journalism since 1981. The school and Wick Communications also help with funding.
Founded by Carson, the workshop was renamed in his honor after he died Feb. 1 at 85. Carson, a revered UA journalism professor from 1966 to 1997 and former department head, was one of the early leaders in helping diversify the nation’s newsrooms.
The school welcomed high school students Julian Armenta (Tucson Cholla), Sadie Azersky (Tucson Canyon del Oro), Ivory Bacy (Tucson Sahuaro), Kaleb Clyde (Winslow), Dara Garcia (Tohono O'odham), Gracy Hardy (Phoenix Washington), Nadira Mitchell (Tucson High), Rohan Patel (Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor), Madeline Richardson (Tucson The Gregory School), Stephany Rocha (Tucson High) and Jenny Sandoval (Tucson Desert View).
Students worked with writing coach Prof. Susan Knight, workshop director Andrés Domînguez and mentors Pascal Albright, Simon Asher, Jane Bendickson, Kirshana Guy and Zeina Cabrera Peterson. Albright, Bendickson and Domínguez are graduates of the workshop.
By the end of the workshop, students had produced The Chronicle newspaper, a website — thechronicleua.weebly.com— and multimedia projects. Students tackled tough subjects: school shootings, DACA, Native American success and health, sexual assault, opioid addiction, cultural competence, postpartum depression, mental illness, dress codes and a local monastery's future.
“These students did a fantastic job,” Knight said. “It was a privilege and an honor ... to work with them. Six days, three stories per student, five mentors, dozens of photos, one late-night dance session, many speakers and contributors, one newspaper and one website. The future is bright.”
Alum Frank Sotomayor (’66) opened the workshop June 3 in the Marshall Building reading room with an inspirational talk about journalism and diversity. Sotomayor told students how he began his career working for the Tucson High newspaper before working for the Arizona Daily Star and the Los Angeles Times, where he co-edited a series on Latinos that won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for public service. Sotomayor showed a documentary, "Below the Fold," to the students.
• 2018 Chronicle issue • Archives • Website
Photo above (from left): Dara Garcia, Ivory Bacy, Stephany Rocha and Rohan Patel
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