Mass Comm stages annual journalism bootcamp

After Hurricane Ian doused plans to stage their second annual boot camp at B-CU last fall, members of the Central Florida Association of Black Journalist went to work planning for the spring semester.

The Joan Fuller Journalism Boot Camp took place on Saturday, Feb. 18, in the Center for Civic Engagement. News directors from several Central Florida area broadcast stations were on hand—WESH Channel 2, WFTV Channel 9 and SPECTRUM News 13. Each speaker shared stories about their climb to the top and what it will take to get ahead in the business.

Susan D’Astoli, senior news director with Spectrum, said she had planned to go into music education and got into broadcast as a way to help pay for graduate school.

During the daylong event students had to come up with a story idea, shoot the video, write the script, edit it and showcase it with a limited time period. Meanwhile, one of the highlights was the awarding of a $500 scholarship to the student that wrote the best essay on why they wanted to be a journalist. Freshman Sanaa' Towers took home the prize.

Chris Shaw, manager of the campus television station, and department of mass communication professor of practice Valerie Whitney helped to coordinate the event that honors the memory of Joan Fuller, a former WESH broadcast journalist that taught here years ago. Fuller died in 2019 as a result of cancer.

Mass Comm's graduating seniors featured in photo exhibit

Dr. Salvador Victor, chair of the department of mass communications, and his faculty decided to surprise the graduating seniors with a special exhibit on the third floor of the fine Arts building. Schools and other colleges here have displayed similar presentations in past years.