J-Campers enjoy their taste of The S-R

If you were downtown Aug. 13, you may have seen a troop of students clad in identical green T-shirts, armed with reporter’s notebooks, pens and ID cards, strolling around Riverfront Park. These kids were part of the second session of The Spokesman Review’s journalism camp and they were conducting their “On the Street” interviews, seen on this page.

In June, more than 100 students ranging from 6th to 12th grade applied for the camp.

“I love writing, and my dad found it (the journalism camp announcement) in the paper and I knew right away that I wanted to do it,” said Isaac Handelman, a 6th grade aspiring journalist attending Hutton Elementary.

Because of the overwhelming amount of applicants, 32 students were chosen instead of the originally planned 12. The student journalists were divided into two sessions. This package of articles was created by the August session.

The leader of the week-long class was Vox adviser Erin Daniels.

“I think she (Daniels) is amazingly funny and a reassurance that adults aren’t all crazy,” said Josie Ellison, a 9th grade camper attending Mt. Spokane High School.

The students spent a week learning about the ethics of journalism and how to conduct an interview, discovering a new style of writing, and producing their own page in the Spokesman. “I’ve liked just learning the way a journalist actually works. TV doesn’t accurately portray the life of a journalist,” said Sydney Weber, a 10th grade student attending Gonzaga Prep.

Some of The Spokesman-Review staff gave talks about certain areas of journalism, and helped with the production of this package of articles.

On a stroke of luck, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers was at The Spokesman-Review building during camp on Aug.12, and came in to talk to the campers and answer questions

“If you had a pet hippo, what would you name it?” asked Lauren Allen, an 8th grader at Evergreen Middle School.

The students went on a tour of The Spokesman-Review facility and learned about the complex process of printing newspapers. They attended the morning meetings of the newspaper’s editors.

Director of radio operations Dan Mitchinson showed the campers how he produces a radio show, and let them try reading a newscast. Food editor Lorie Hutson had the students perform taste tests as a food panel for a later column.

Eight pounds of licorice later, the group completed this story package that is a combination of two major issues today: going back to school and going green.

“I thought it’d be a really good experience and I’d learn a lot, and I am,” Allen said.