WHYY Summer Journalists

Are you a high school student who has dreamed about being a reporter someday? Can you see yourself working for NPR or CNN? During this two-week hands-on journalism program, you’ll develop real-world experience in 21st century reporting, from finding stories on your own “beat” to interviewing leads to writing and producing original news stories. Working with expert staff at WHYY and a small team of other students, you’ll be out on the streets and in the student news room, shooting and editing video, producing audio content and telling great stories.

This class is for students who have completed 9th to 12th grades. Lunch is included.

More information

What is WHYY Summer?

WHYY Summer offers intensive multi-week experiences for teens finishing grades 9-12 and a spring break program for middle school students. The project-based programs provide immersive media-production experiences in which the participants work in teams to create original news or film productions in news.

As a student of WHYY Summer Journalists, what will I be doing each day?

You’ll learn how to use WHYY’s cameras, microphones and other equipment as you practice your interviewing and storytelling skills. Once you’ve got the basics under your belt, you and your group will be assigned a “beat,” representing one of the neighborhoods surrounding WHYY: Old City, Chinatown or Society Hill/Washington Square West. With your news team and a member of WHYY staff, you’ll explore your assigned neighborhood for story ideas and pitch those ideas to the award-winning WHYY news department.

Once you’ve got a good lead, you’ll spend time with your group gathering information, conducting interviews, and telling your stories through video, audio, text and photos. At the end of the two weeks, you’ll be collaborating with everyone to produce a newscast of the videos you’ve produced through the program to be screened before an audience of family and friends. All the while, you’ll make new friends and have the opportunity to talk to and learn from expert journalists.

What kinds of students attend WHYY Summer?

Students who attend WHYY Summer are high school students who love to learn new things and find out more about the world around them. Maybe you’ve wanted to be a reporter or a filmmaker for as long as you can remember. Maybe these are new interests you’d like to explore. Either way, you’re an active, engaged people person who is thinking about college and beyond.