August 02, 2010

High school students from across the state learned from professional journalists and experienced hands-on journalism this summer at the 8th annual Cornerstone Journalism Institute (CJI).

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

There were several presentations given each day, including grammar bingo with Professor of English Judith Fabisch; Cornerstone alumni Luke Stier, a producer at Wood TV 8; and Katherine Wisen, employed as afull-time journalist and student at CU. They shared their experiences in the profession and held a mock press conference with Director of Campus Safety Richard, Honholt, the former Hudsonville chief of police.

Participants lived in Cornerstone residence halls from Sunday, July 25, to Friday, July 30. The cost of the week was $300 per student, which included housing and meals on campus, a laptop for the week, study materials and 25 complimentary copies of the CJI newspaper. Each student had at least one story or photo published in the CJI newspaper.

Becky Postema and Abbie Hudson, both from Ada, Mich., described CJI as intense.

"We wrote a whole story on the first day, which was scary because I didn't really know how to do it," Hudson said. However, she said her skills improved dramatically over the course of the week.

"The feedback from Professor Blanchard and the assistants. was very helpful," she said.

CJI's sponsors help keep the cost of attendance low. Sponsors included:

The Grand Rapids Press, (Grand Rapids, Mich.); Stafford Media Solutions/Greenville Daily News (Greenville, Mich.),  DDM Marketing (Grand Rapids, Mich.),  Clare Publishing (Clare, Mich.) and the Associated Press.

 Visit www.cornerstone.edu/events/cji/ to learn more about CJI or the Cornerstone journalism program.