Embedded Files
Advisers need to stay up to date with current trends and expectations of the media to recruit students into journalism programs. These pieces create interest and visual appeal in the school and can be shared in the community to show the positive experiences of the students in the journalism program. These are ideas that appeal to students and drive interest and excitement in the program.
Social Media
Use social media accounts to promote your journalism program. Post all the great things happening in your newsrooms including stories, surveys/polls, announcements, promotions, celebrations, sales, awards, links and current events. This will drive interest in the program and bring students in.
You want to be sure to create procedures for how staffers should post to social media accounts. Click the button for a link to The Blaze yearbook procedures.
These are links to The Blaze yearbook social media accounts.
Promo Video
Create a promotional video that can be shown in your school on your school's website and on your journalism social media accounts.
The video can also be shared with your school district for them to post on their website and social media accounts. You should also share the video with the middle school advisers and elementary school principals.
Video filmed & edited by IT Press journalist, Angel Peña.
School Displays
These displays are in high traffic areas where they will be seen by a majority of the student body on a daily basis. They keep the journalism program visible throughout the school year.
Senior Banner Example
"Being a part of the journalism program, it is exciting to see that you will be up there on the wall one day and be recognized for your work."
-Avah Rumph, 2023 Blaze Reference Editor
Beginning this school year, banners are created for seniors each year and hung in the journalism hall. 2022-2023 will be the first year our school will have these banners for the students. This is the photo of the banner that will be created. At the end of the year, the seniors are given their banners. This gives the underclassmen in the journalism classes and the rest of the school population something to look forward to and aim for.
This banner was created in Canva using this template. A copy can be made to use for your own banners.
The five seniors on the 2023 yearbook staff pose under their banners the morning they were revealed on Feb. 23.
Awards Display Cases
"Seeing the awards of previous students motivated me as a freshman to work hard to improve the yearbook program. I've seen the improvement throughout my four years in the program and the awards are a product of that."
-Isabella Waldschmidt, 2022 & 2023 Blaze Editor in Chief
The newspaper and yearbook each have a display case in the main second floor hallway for awards and any other materials to display. These allow the publications to have spaces in well-traveled areas to bring attention to the work students are doing. They also provide the opportunity to promote the programs with flyers posted on the glass and/or around the display case and other promotional items throughout the year in order to recruit students.
Alumni Wall
"I can't wait to see the wall grow and more people get added. I will hopefully see myself up there one day, too."
-Eydie Furnett, 2023 IT-TV Segment Producer & Anchor
This wall is in the journalism hall and displays some of our alumni that have gone on to careers and internships with news outlets. The purpose of the alumni wall is to feature students that have graduated from our program. Each alumni photo is labeled with the year they graduated from our school, their university and current job. This gives current students names of alumni to reach out to and make connections with as they move on from high school.
It also serves as inspiration for students and gives a sense of the history of the program. The wall went up a couple of weeks ago and the current students have been talking about it every day and asking questions about each of the graduates.
This wall can be placed anywhere is your building that works for your program and will serve to inspire and recruit students.
These are printed on Avery business cards and attached to the frames. A link to the nameplate label file for this is below. (You will probably need to reformat the cards based on the Avery or other brand cards you purchase.) You will be prompted to log into Google and make a copy of the document.
Photo of the Week
"I feel proud of myself that I was able to get to that point of being featured. Having people see a picture I took makes me feel really happy because now I know that my work is worth something."
-Kevin Vazquez, 2023 Blaze Photo Editor
The editors choose a photo of the week, and it is displayed on the TVs in the commons/lunchroom, the library and the main office each week with the photographer's name. There are several TVs in the commons, the main office and the library. This creates a sense of healthy competition among the staff to be featured. It gives the photojournalism students examples of strong journalistic photography to aspire to, and it creates a sense of excitement among the student body to see themselves featured on the screens and social media accounts.
Summer Bootcamp
Every summer The Blaze yearbook holds a summer training bootcamp in August. An important recruiting component to the camp is social media posting. Photo and videos are taken throughout each day and posted on yearbook social media accounts in a variety of formats including posts and stories.
The camp is held over four days and serves several purposes.
This is a period of four days that allows the staff to focus in-depth on learning journalism skills needed to be on the staff.
Each day includes activities that allow the staff to get know each other and bond through ice-breakers, games, and interviews.
The camp provides opportunities to bring professionals in to speak to the staff. Some trainers that have presented are alumni that have gone on to careers in journalism and graphic design.
The alumni also spend time talking to the staff about the benefits of the journalism program and how it helped direct their career path. They give the staff advice and talk about how they have applied the skills they learned in their journalism courses to other areas in their lives.
Alumni also share current trends in media and reporting and ways to improve their coverage and stay current with these trends. They are able to give first-hand knowledge of the changing media landscape.
The Blaze yearbook holds two events that provide an opportunity for the community to come into the newsroom and interact with them. The week starts with a yearbook wedding at the end of day one and it ends with a pancake breakfast at the start of the day on day four. The staff sends invitations to several stakeholders in the school and the community. These are people that the staff will need to potentially interact with when covering stories. Some of the invitees also have a large stake in the funding of education and free speech rights of students. Inviting stakeholders into the newsroom allows open lines of communication and helps them see the value in journalism programs.
This is a list of potential stakeholders to invite to these events:
the school administration
district superintendent and communications director/public relations director
school board members
local news reporters & media
the mayor
city or town council members
police chief and public information/community liaison officer
fire chief
state representatives
This invitation was created using Canva and the template can be viewed by clicking on the link above. A copy can be made to use for your own wedding invitations.
This is the invitation sent for the annual bootcamp pancake breakfast.
Newsrooms Should Represent Their Communities
Journalism programs need to work to recruit staffs who reflect the diverse population they represent. Their newsrooms should look like the population they are serving.
Ways to accomplish this task:
Gather data from your district and analyze your staff - does the make-up of your staff match your district or school data?
Perform a diversity audit of your publications and identify areas of improvement in coverage.
Give invitation letters to students and ensure the students being invited represent the population of your school and from groups that were identified as areas that need improved coverage.
Reach out to local minority members of the media - ask them to come speak to the students, create a mentorship program, arrange tours of newsrooms and set up talks with journalists during the visit.
Ask if the local news organizations allow student internships/shadows and connect students with these opportunities.
Elementary & Middle School Recruiting
Mentorship
Create a mentorship program between the high school journalism students and the elementary and middle school students. High school students can work with younger students on their publications. It will create an in-depth learning experience for both the elementary and middle school students and the high school students.
Benefits of a mentorship program:
Research shows one of the best ways for students to learn is by doing the task and performing a skill.
Teaching these skills to others will help reinforce them in the high school students and make them stronger.
Younger students have years of experience before getting to the high school level.
Creating increased connections for the high school publications and journalism programs within the community.
Volunteer hours for high school students - The Kenosha Unified School District requires volunteer hours for graduation and if your district is similar, this could fill that requirement.
Journalism Expo Day
Elementary and middle school students are an important demographic to reach out to and bring in to the newsrooms. Hosting a journalism expo day is an opportunity for the high school journalism staff to show what they know and teach the younger students.
Flyers and emails are sent to elementary school principals and middle school journalism advisers. Emails include the list of sessions with descriptions. Participants sign up for the event and choose their sessions via Google Forms. Teachers are then sent the groups for their students and all other directions for their students for the day.
The schedule for the day in the slideshow below is for each session to run for an hour, but that may be too long for elementary students. Four sessions may also be too much for them. This expo day is very flexible for them. You could split this up into two mornings of two one hour sessions each or do one day with four half hour sessions. Before planning your final sessions, it's a good idea to sit down with some elementary teachers and get their feedback about the timing for the kids.
Things to consider when planning and expo day:
Busing for school days - Who will pay for this? Will busing be available?
Lunches - Where will you have students eat? Will you provide lunch for students or will they bring a lunch? Where will those lunches be kept until the lunch break?
Permission slips - check your district's policy on field trips and permission slips.
Building fees - will any fees be needed to use your building if you choose to hold the expo on a weekend?
Attendance - check the attendance procedures for your journalism students. Will they be able to miss class to run the expo day if you're running the day on a school day?
Chaperones - Will you need chaperones and other adults to help supervise during the sessions? How will you coordinate this with the school that are attending and your school?
The event flyer and schedule of the day are below.
Journalism expo day flyer sent to elementary school principals and middle school journalism advisers.
Schedule of events for the journalism expo day.
Middle School Shadowing
Many districts have choice schools and they provide multiple high school options for middle schoolers. In addition to hosting a journalism expo day, allowing middle schoolers to come in and shadow a high school student for the day will give them a more in-depth experience. It allows them one-on-one time with a journalism student and allows them to see the journalism classes in full operation. It provides a unique opportunity for the journalism students to make connections with middle schoolers and to provide more unique opportunities for recruitment.
Below is a flyer sent to middle school counselors and posted on social media accounts.
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