Students in “Journalism: Introduction to News Media and Communication” were at the forefront in putting investigative and ethical journalism into practice.
Terry Luo, class of ‘25, thought that taking “Journalism: Introduction to News Media and Communication” would be a good way for him to “practice some forms of writing in which more ethical journalistic values could be applied.”
Terry believed that this course would help him navigate the ever-increasing number of news sources in the modern day—and it did. “The elective turned out a lot better than what I expected,” Terry said, “Mrs. Ashbrook really put in a lot of effort into each class and made a bunch of activities for us to do that were really applicable.”
The aim of this course, as described in its course description, was to help students develop skills in “recognizing good stories, gathering facts through skillful interviewing and research, developing sources, crafting welcoming leads and satisfying endings, and creating news and feature articles that inform and engage readers.” Not only did students learn these skills effectively and successfully, they did it with passion.
When asked about what his favorite assignment was, Jon Dong, class of ‘25, could not fathom picking only one. Instead, he passionately elaborated on three:
“The first one is the Personality Profile I did on one of the Cross Country captains Brandon Liu! I really enjoyed interviewing him and then writing the piece. I feel like I truly understood his energy and what he wanted to bring to the team while writing that piece.”
The second one is the review assignment, which asks students to write a review for something released in 2023. Jon picked Sufjan Stevens’ new album, Javelin: “I loved this assignment because I got to use my voice and write about something that I was passionate about.”
The last one is the feature writing assignment, of which Jon wrote an investigative piece about Tower Hill’s history of diversity and global inclusion. “I loved getting to interview so many different teacher[s] and students for the piece. I also delved into a student that graduated in the 1960s and learned what Tower Hill was like back then.”
“I felt kind of like a detective, having to investigate so many different things and then compile it into a coherent piece of writing,” Jon added.