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Students get taste of journalism during education conference

The National Congress on Rural Education was not only a beneficial experience for those in the education field.
Students get taste of journalism during education conference
Students from Horizon School Division were invited to be a part of the e-Journalism team for the National Congress on Rural Education in Saskatoon from Mar. 20-22. The team, along with Horizon staff who assisted the team pose with Horizon School Division Director of Education, Kevin Garinger. Back Row (L to R): Tyson Greff, Tyson Simpson, Levi Thompson, Tanner Zimmerman, Kevin Garinger, Jared Melenchuk. Middle Row (L to R): Lance Hiltz, Shelly Campbell, Rene Cannon, Porsche Gunchoski, LeeAnn Pankratz, Sarah Emblin, Nicole Garn, Celine Misckolczi, Shayna Campbell, Kianna Hack, Haley Bilokraly, Laura Edwards, Patsy Knafelc. Front Row (L to R): Martina Leader, Brookelynn Tetzlaf, Avery McMartin, Lena Marcocchio, Stephanie Dressler. photo courtesy of Lance Hiltz

The National Congress on Rural Education was not only a beneficial experience for those in the education field.

Students from the Horizon and Englefeld Protestant School Divisions were also invited to report on the congress by being part of the e-journalism team during the three day conference in Saskatoon from Mar. 20-22.

Eighteen students from grade 9-12 from Englefeld School, Humboldt Collegiate Institute, St. Brieux School, Wadena Composite High School, Foam Lake Composite High School, William Derby High School in Strasbourg, and Viscount Central High School were all invited to take in the conference and interview prominent speakers, make videos, write articles, and post on their work on social media.

All three students were extremely impressed with the conference. Levi Thompson from Humboldt Collegiate says they had the opportunity to meet amazing people and take in interesting presentations and keynote speakers.

Tanner Zimmerman from Englefeld School says being part of the journalism team gave him the opportunity to meet interesting people and learn a lot of things.

Zimmerman ran the e-journalism social media, posting on their blog, twitter, and other social media outlets.

This was right up his alley since he has an interest in making videos and talking to other people that people look up to, he says.

Digital media is becoming a big part of the journalism field, says Tyson Greff from Humboldt Collegiate, and all the students have the technological interest in learning those skills.

“That is what intrigued me the most, not only was I going to get out and learn a lot more about technology, and interview and working as a team, but it was also intriguing because it gave me the opportunity to meet people and try something new and spend some time out of the classroom setting.”

Interviewing skills was the big skill that Zimmerman took from the conference experience.

“I learned how to not be nervous when talking to people because you have to understand that they’re nervous, too. That’s the big thing,” Zimmerman says.

Even though they were not educators, Greff says the conference had a lot of speakers that interested him as a student on the inside of the system.

“There is a lot of good concepts and knowledge being spread around that helps in classroom application and that can help the future of education in this country.”

None of the three students interviewed are considering a career in journalism, despite their broadened skill set. However, Greff says being able to put yourself out there in the media scene is the experience they wanted to get.

Conference organizers always pick one school division to be a part of the e-journalism team and this year, Horizon School Division Director, Kevin Garinger jumped at this opportunity for Horizon students.

Garinger says that this was a great practical application of journalism skills and the students received a lot of support from staff and conference organizers.

Horizon School Division Communication Director, Lance Hiltz was the one to organize the e-journalism team with travel and equipment.

He was very impressed with how the students ran with the conference.

“Mostly the kids were really quick to learn and really good at what they were doing.”

Even with tight deadlines of 45 minutes after a session to turn something out to the team, they were really timely with quality material.

“Some of the video editors had to work long hours to get our presentations ready for the mornings and they were really good with that.”

Find out more about their work at their blog, ejournalismhorizon.wordpress.com.