TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — J-Day, short for Journalism Day, is dedicated to showing off all that the Hall School of Journalism and Communications (HSJC) has to offer.
Students who attended J-Day have the option to participate in workshops that cover broadcast and print journalism, photography, yearbook design and sports reporting.
“Our goal for J-Day is to bring high school students from all over the state and even the panhandle of Florida to the campus of Troy University to teach them journalism best practices,” J-Day organizer Morgan Drinkard said.
Professor and faculty advisor to the Tropolitan newspaper, Hanna Cooper, suggested high schoolers get involved in the school news organizations in order to start gaining experience.
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“I think something that high schoolers kind of struggle with a lot is thinking that they can’t get involved, and so I always love J-Day specifically because I get to go back to my roots,” Cooper told TrojanVision. “I started in high school, I sidelined football reporters, and I did a PA for baseball for a season, so it’s really fun for me to go back to J-Day and tell the kids, no, you can go ahead and get started now.”
Mackenzie Foster, a Troy student, and TrojanVision Student News Director, said the skills that high schoolers are introduced to at J-Day are the same ones they will utilize in the real world.
“I did an internship over the summer, and the skills that TrojanVision and The Tropolitan gave me allowed me to walk into that newsroom and know exactly what full-time employees are supposed to do,” Foster told TrojanVision. “There’s something really impressive about being a college student and looking at your news director looking and at your editor and chief and being like, I know how to do this please let me do it, and then you do it, and you do it amazingly, and they’re like wow you’re great. Do you want a job?”
Students who attend J-Day are encouraged to return for official tours and to learn more about journalism and communication courses offered at Troy.
For more information about the HSJC, visit its website.
