Hello JCamp staff, advisors and campers! My name is Fidelity Ballmer and Im a rising Junior at Foothill Technology High School in Ventura, California. Im in the Online/Print team led by AAJA President and AP Reporter Paul Cheung and Bloomberg reporter Clea Benson. I joined our (only online) newspaper this year. It was automatically a stressful experience for all the rookies because the website continuously produces great content and wins the highest awards in online journalism- it was on us to continue that tradition! I took to the challenge and automatically found out I had found the place for me. I started out in news and its where I want to stay. I love reporting because its fast paced, exciting, important to our community and an adventure. I absolutely love running out of class to answer the phone to someone important and have my teacher look at me like, What does she think she is doing right now? I can work on an investigative piece or story for 6 hours straight and then blink my eyes and come out of a journalism coma. I love the important ethical decisions, impact on my community, ability to call whoever I want for an interview and our watchdog role to the school and government. This year, I had the opportunity to work on a lot of really cool investigative reporting pieces. I researched into Common Core and how it was going to affect our school and nation by interviewing the author of the math standards, a Stanford professor who was on the verification board and refused to sign on, Phylis Schlafly (who has helped lead the movement against CC), leaders of movements against CC, etc. I researched into a new California cyberbullying law that might limit free speech by interviewing the author of the bill, first amendment advocates and lawyers, students, etc. I also had the difficult responsibility of reporting on the death of a teacher in our community. Framing the story, making it flow, collecting interviewing, organizing everything, going through several rounds of edits and seeing the finished product online are all a big part of the thrill of journalism for me. You can check out my portfolio here!: https://fidelityballmer.journoportfolio/ Ive also been honored to be on ASNEs youth advisory board, win several local and national awards in journalism and be chosen to be next years News Editor for my paper. In addition to working on the paper, I also am speech captain of my schools speech and debate team, a tutor, and the debate leader for my schools Political Action and Awareness Club. This year, I founded and lead a club called Girl Up on my campus that raises money, advocates, and educates others about a girls right to an education, no matter where she lives. In my free time, you can catch me feverishly following the news, reading or listening to music. I am so grateful for this opportunity- Its so incredibly unique and I cant wait to learn from all the speakers, staff and campers! SEE YOU ALL IN BOSTON
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 19:07:24 +0000
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