High school outreach can be boon for your media program

By Nils Rosdahl
Nondaily Newspaper Committee Chair

One of the most effective ways to recruit high school students to your school’s journalism program and newspaper staff is to make them (and the public) aware that it exists and what it offers.

A free journalism workshop can be a major help. Here is how we do it at North Idaho College, a community college in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We serve a large geographical area as the only college in the Panhandle of Idaho. Our college also attracts students from Western Montana, Eastern Washington and Southern Idaho.

Be aware of the journalism professional organizations in your area and have them be aware of you and your program by being your active in them. For us, these are the Idaho Press Club (IPC) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), both of which have local chapters. Use them to help organize the workshops.  The local chapter of the Idaho Press Club has informal monthly breakfast meetings at a restaurant across the street from our campus. Employees of the two daily papers that serve our area and public relations employees from area businesses, organizations, broadcast media and our college also are invited through an e-mail listserv.

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