Pacific Union College

Pacific Union College hosted the 32nd annual Publication Workshop from September 11-13. The workshop hadn’t been in person since 2019, and PUC was excited to welcome 12 academies from California and Oregon. The workshop offered training and valuable tips for jump-starting a yearbook, newspaper, or video yearbook. Participants got practical, hands-on information from college educators, student leaders, and industry professionals. Through workshops and worship, students could network with advisers, editors, designers, photographers, videographers, and editorial staff.

Sponsors of the Publication Workshop are the visual arts, communication, and English departments at PUC. Tim de la Torre, a visual arts instructor, was this year’s Publication Workshop director. The enrollment department helped with logistics, treating the workshop like another College Days.

Andrianna Massena, PUC campus visit coordinator, said, “Publication Workshop allowed the students to take what they were learning and apply it right then and there to their projects.” Throughout the three-day workshop, there were raffles for prizes, like PUC merch. A pancake breakfast for participants was prepared by PUC’s cross country team, enrollment counselors, and admissions team. Admissions and marketing staff served ice cream sundaes during Monday’s movie night. “The thing that I enjoyed most was making connections with the students and sponsors from every academy,” Massena shared. “I think they could see that PUC’s faculty and staff really enjoyed having the students on campus!”

De la Torre, his team, and the enrollment team worked hard to create a Christian learning environment that would inspire. Of all the worships, keynotes, and sessions, de la Torre felt that students probably most enjoyed their assignment to interview someone on campus. Students built an editorial spread about the person they interviewed, and many teams worked late to make their spread the best it could be. “Also, I think the following morning’s critique session was really appreciated by the students,” said de la Torre. “We were blunt and honest with our praise and criticism of their work. I don’t think most of them are used to that kind of feedback, and many of them said how impactful that was.”

PUC was extra pleased to welcome students from Tualatin Valley Academy, who traveled from Portland, Oregon, to attend the workshop. Having schools from further away attend was important to de la Torre and his team. “I’m sad to lose the schools that would have joined us online,” he shared. “But this event would not have worked in a hybrid fashion; however, we made some significant changes to the format this year, and there’s potential to do something hybrid in the future.”

The main things de la Torre hopes participants take from the experience is to “feel more confident working together as a team and learn to trust each other and push each other to do their best work.” He continued, “They left with some valuable feedback related to design, photography, and writing that will be helpful to them as they work on their own school publications this upcoming year.”

____________________ By Ally Romanes