Students from schools across East Texas attended a journalism camp  June 22 and 23 at Whitehouse High School to help further their skills in newspaper and yearbook. Both organizations formulated plans for the upcoming school year while at the camp.

“Part of it is so they can learn different aspects of creating the publication,” Balfour yearbook representative Debbie Vaughn said.  “One reason we try to have so many opportunities is so some kids can go to one class, some can go to another, and maybe they can come back together with their staff and share information with each other.”

The camp taught the basics of journalism and design, along with other optional classes such as InDesign and photography. Students bonded with each other to work together as a cohesive staff in the form of games.

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The students used the opportunity of camp to refresh their skills. Teachers taught roughly twenty classes between the two sessions. Each specialized on different aspects of publications. Newspaper students received information on topics ranging from taking interviews to developing interesting content.

“It’s a good opportunity to learn before the school year gets started, so you’re not coming in cold,” White Oak sports editor Kason Kienzle said. “The more people that know about it, the better the staff and the product is going to be.”

Yearbook training sessions consisted of students learning how to select themes for the book along with learning advanced skills in Photoshop. By organizing their thoughts, students established goals that they need to work on most in the upcoming school year.

“You have new students you need to train and you have new ideas for the coming year.  You want your publication to be fresh, new and it helps to get a lot of planning,” Vaughn said. “If you’re going to make a change it’s good to do the planning for that in the summer so I think it gives people a head start.”