Thanks to Casey Kochey for a guest post on Peter Goodman’s presentation “Hofstra High School Journalism Institute.”

by Casey Kochey

Peter Goodman - Photo by Cheryl Pell

Next on the agenda is Peter Goodman, who runs the Hofstra High School Journalism Institute (http://www.hofstra.edu/Academics/Colleges/SOC/JDIV/index.html) at Hofstra University.  The program brings in 10 high school students from Long Island, New York, every summer to learn the basics of journalism from Hofstra professors and student mentors.

Peter Goodman is describing the process of researching and developing a summer journalism seminar for high school students.

The course he runs is a two-week, non-residential program for high school juniors.  Unlike similar programs around the country, the Hofstra program actually provided students with a stipend and meal card during their stay – as opposed to charging them for the experience.  Unfortunately, funding cuts are changing the way this program runs.

The program focuses on reporting and writing.  Using resources like the Long Island Index (http://www.longislandindex.org/), the program taught students to seek out areas of concern in their community.  Local newscasters are brought in to lecture about interview techniques and librarians are brought in to discuss research methods.

Peter Goodman says that when students set out to find their own stories, they don’t shy away from weighty stories – domestic abuse, housing costs and serious environmental concerns in their community.

This past summer, during the third year of the program’s existence, the grant money was cut in half, and the program is now seeking alternative ways to fund the program.

Despite the limited budget, students were able to create a number of interesting articles.  The stories have been published online at http://hssji.htvinteractive.com/.