Huntington Journalism Program is Making Connections
Four Huntington High School journalism students are flying high after being invited to attend a symposium at Newsday’s corporate headquarters in Melville. The group will participate in a panel discussion with editorial writers, op-ed columnists, sports pundits and news reporters.
Students Carolyn Fante, Greg James, Josh Daidone, and Rita Eian are headed to the publishing giant for a discussion that will focus on how the news should be delivered in the 21st century. Newsday is reaching out to the community to determine how and where young people obtain their news in what is generally regarded as a very competitive media market.
The Huntington-Newsday connection will also feature a second visit to the journalism program by columnist Joye Brown. She will discuss her role with the paper, how a columnist differs from a reporter and her previous work as an editorial writer for the paper, said English teacher Mickey Baron, who heads the journalism program and serves as faculty advisor for the school’s student newspaper, The Dispatch.
In her last visit to a Huntington High School classroom, Ms. Brown held court at a freewheeling discussion on all aspects of journalism and the newspaper business that mesmerized and inspired students. “She tells it like it is in her own gritty style,” Mr. Baron said.
In perhaps the biggest coup of all, Mr. Baron said he has discussed a possible collaboration between Huntington High School and the Stony Brook University School of Journalism with college Dean Howard Schneider. The yet-to-be finalized journalistic endeavor could pave the way for numerous opportunities for local students.
Mr. Schneider is the founding dean of the Stony Brook journalism program, which is the only one of its kind in the State University of New York system. Mr. Baron said that one possibility would have a Stony Brook faculty member visit Huntington’s campus for a workshop or Huntington students might visit Stony Brook’s state-of-the-art journalism complex.
Journalism is an English department elective course available to all Huntington High School students. For more information call Director of Humanities Joseph Leavy at 673-2079 or e-mail him at jleavy@hufsd.edu.
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