June 29, 2010

High school students will learn from professional journalists and experience hands-on journalism this summer at the 8th annual Cornerstone Journalism Institute (CJI).

Students will work with journalists such as Russ Pulliam, editor of the Indianapolis Starr and columnist, Dave Murray, education reporter for The Grand Rapids Press, Emily Zoladz, photojournalist for The Press, and Bob Becker, retired sports editor of The Press.

“The students are put into a realistic situation where they're responsible for creating the story and visual content for a newspaper, all inside a week that includes training on interviewing, reporting and basic photography skills,” said Alan Blanchard, CJI director and associate professor of journalism at Cornerstone. “Also, students get an opportunity to live on the campus and get a feel for what it would be like to be a student at Cornerstone University.”

Participants of the institute live in Cornerstone campus dorms from Sunday, July 25, to Friday, July 30. Cost of the week is $300 per student if registered before May 1, or $325 after May 1, which includes housing and meals on campus, a laptop for the week, study materials and 25 complimentary copies of the CJI newspaper. Each student will have at least one story or photo published in the CJI newspaper.

 “CJI was a valuable and fun experience for me,” said Longan Nguyen, a former Cornerstone student who attended CJI in 2007 and 2008. “I met great people and learned a lot about the different aspects of journalism. CJI helped confirm my desire to pursue journalism.”

Enrollment is limited. Visit www.cornerstone.edu/events/cji/ to learn more about CJI, apply now or find out more about Cornerstone’s journalism program.