During the 2024 summer break from Aug. 20-22, Mountlake Terrace High School held its first journalism camp for aspiring young journalists. The Junior J-Camp, as it was called, was run in conjunction with the Edmonds School District’s annual STEM Camp – a highly successful mainstay each summer at Terrace. Overall, more than 125 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students from throughout the area attended the camps.

The journalism-focused sessions were held in the Hawkeye/Tempo newsroom, where students learned about photography, graphic design and — of course — reporting and writing. Student directors led lessons, activities and presentations all centered around the difficult job of being a student journalist. Campers were tasked with making a two-page spread about the concurrently running STEM Camp.

For more than 10 years, the STEM department at MTHS has held its own summer camp showcasing the many activities, opportunities and technology the program has to offer. For their part, J-Campers interviewed, photographed and designed their work surrounding the activities held at STEM camp. These activities included an egg drop, where students made creative contraptions to protect their egg from a lengthy fall. There was also a peanut butter and jelly sandwich activity, where students wrote down instructions on how to create the American classic — but they had to include every detail so the student teachers (who were following the instructions literally) would make the sandwich correctly. And there was a wood-burning activity where students used lasers to burn their own custom messages on wooden coins. J-Campers followed STEM students, staff and teachers during these activities to learn what exactly made this experience so amazing for students.

The J-Campers learned how to take photos that effectively captured small moments in time — all for the cause of telling stories. Students also learned how to interview STEM campers and staff members, as well as how to turn those interviews into effective journalistic stories.

Students who were interested in design were ushered into the Hawkeye/Tempo newsroom, where they learned how to use Adobe software and how to design not only a good-looking spread, but also a spread that effectively led the viewer’s eye.

J-Camp students worked on state-of-the-art computers, software and digital cameras so they could learn how to be a journalist with professional equipment in a professional environment. Every single student worked incredibly hard, and they were able to collaboratively produce publishable work in just three days. The Hawkling Herald, the name for the campers’ publication, produced 20 pages of work in fewer than 13 hours.

Journalism and print news publications are often seen as dying media, but the students of J-Camp have shown that to be untrue. J-camp will continue next year with even more experience and enthusiasm.

— By Lucas Barquin
MTHS Hawkeye News Editor