Ready to produce media, but not in college yet? The Media School offers summer programs for middle and high school students across the country to step out of their comfort zones and push themselves to create new, exciting media content.
Hosted on IU’s picturesque campus and featuring The Media School’s professional-grade equipment and expert faculty, these programs are the perfect way to get an early start in journalism, game design and film.
Description of the video:
Emma Shreve, Digital Cinema AcademyThe Cinema Academy provides in-depth experiential learning opportunities for student filmmakers of all calibers and interests. Students spend the week on campus hearing from filmmakers, attending film screenings and creating their own short films.
Description of the video:
A game is shown. A camper is shown at a computer working.Game Development Camp teaches the basics of game design through the very same tools professional companies and studios use to create their work. The camp teaches both 2D and 3D design, and students are encouraged to sign up for whichever they find more interesting, or try their hand at both.
Description of the video:
Counselors welcome high school students to HSJI. Clips of HSJI students at the camp are shown as people talk.
Teresa White, director of the High School Journalism Institute, speaks:
Whether you want to study journalism in college or whether you want to do it as a career, the sort of skills and confidence that you gain from attending a workshop like this will benefit you in anything you try to do.
Grace Ybarra, HSJI alumna, speaks:
HSJI was kind of just like solidifying, like 'yes, this is what I want to do.' I didn't really have opportunities to take journalism classes in high school, so being able to be in a classroom setting especially at IU was really useful for me.
White:
We offer four different writing and reporting classes. We have news writing, feature writing, opinion writing, and sports writing.
Ybarra:
I did the sports section of HSJI, and I think my favorite part there was how close everybody got. I still stay in touch with a bunch of the people that I met there.
Alex Hardgrave, HSJI alumna, speaks:
One of the skills I picked up at HSJI was learning how to write on a tighter deadline than I'd been used to before. Because in high school, I was just like a monthly publication, so we didn't have to worry about these fast deadlines. But it was really a cool, different side of it to have to write three stories in one week and get your sources on your own and everything.
Ybarra:
One of the really useful skills that I learned from that was just not being afraid to call people. I had to pull out my phone, find whoever I could and call them and conduct interviews over the phone, and I think that was the first time I'd ever done that. So it's a really valuable skill to learn.
White:
The excitement about going to any pre-college program is one, you get to kind of test drive a college.
Hardgrave:
I think the thing that influenced me most to come here after going to HSJI was that I was just able to explore Bloomington and the campus so much and just like really, really get to know it while I was here.
Ybarra:
Being able to be in a classroom setting, especially at IU, was really useful for me to see kind of how it operates and helped me realize that this is something that I would want to do for the next four years of my life.
White:
It never hurts for you to learn how to be able to ask questions, to research to find answers, how to communicate, whether it's with words or with images – those are all great benefits. Plus just the whole idea of coming to a college campus. You get a chance to see if this is the type of school that's good for you. And it helps you understand more what your own personal goals are.
The Media School’s High School Journalism Institute, established in 1946, gives high school students and teachers an immersive learning experience through a variety of workshops and educational opportunities that span everything from documentary filmmaking to basic reporting techniques.
