Summer Journalism Visitation Program

The Role Models program introduces
middle and high school students to journalism.
By DONNA WINCHESTER, St. Petersburg Times Staff Writer
Taken with permission June 23, 2004

GAINESVILLE - Laureen Ricks expects she'll always remember the thrill of opening the newspaper and seeing her first story in print.

Her name, which appeared above the story in tiny type, was misspelled, but the 15-year-old Lake Weir High School sophomore didn't care. All that mattered to her was that someone thought her work was good enough to publish.

Seven years later, Ricks is a University of Florida senior looking forward to graduating in December with a degree in journalism. She has scores of bylines to her credit, including several earned so far this summer as an intern at the Star-Banner in Ocala. Recognized by her professors and her peers as a talented young journalist, Ricks has a future that seems assured.

Although she has traveled far from the insecurity of her high school days, she has never forgotten where she got her start: the Role Models Foundation, a nonprofit organization that published her first stories in its newspaper, Role Models Today.

Ricks continues to write stories for the publication and mentors aspiring journalists whenever she gets the chance. She also spends one day each summer volunteering at the foundation's Summer Journalism Visitation Program, which is held on the UF campus.

"Role Models has done so much for me," Ricks said. "It gave me confidence with my writing. It introduced me to incredible people who became essential in my life. I wouldn't be where I am today without them."

On Saturday, she was one of several Role Models ambassadors who greeted 56 middle and high school students from across the state at the foundation's eighth annual seminar. Co-sponsored by UF's college of journalism and communications, the free one-day event included workshops on newspaper reporting, broadcast journalism, photojournalism and online resources led by UF staff and St. Petersburg Times and Star-Banner journalists.

The Role Models Foundation began in 1994 as an outreach to African-American students such as Ricks, but expanded over the years to include all young people with a desire to become professional journalists, said Billie Monroe, a member of the organization's board of directors.

"We don't turn away anyone who's interested," Monroe said. "What we're trying to do is provide all students with opportunities they might not ordinarily experience."

This year's Summer Journalism Visitation Program attendees included students from Lecanto, Jacksonville, Spring Hill, Ocala and Deltona. Representing Pinellas County was Amaris Castillo, a rising senior at Clearwater High.

The 16-year-old joined her school's newspaper staff last year at the recommendation of her 10th-grade English teacher. She recently attended a summer writer's camp at the Poynter Institute and came to the Role Models seminar to find out what she could do to make the Clearlight a better paper.

After sitting in on a panel discussion that addressed the program's theme - "Covering the World: International Journalism" - Castillo attended an Internet workshop taught by UF college of journalism and communications Web administrator Craig Lee. She also attended a photojournalism workshop led by Star-Banner photo editor Alan Youngblood.

Youngblood's workshop introduced her to photojournalism ethics and gave her a lot to think about.

"I learned that when you take a photo, it's the same as writing an article," she said. "It has to be the truth. You can't manipulate it to make it look as if something else is going on."

Although Role Models has expanded to embrace all students, it still is especially helpful to minority students such as Castillo, who was raised in a Hispanic neighborhood in Brooklyn by parents who were born in the Dominican Republic.

"The summer program shows the students people in roles they've never seen them in," said Charles Harris, director of UF's Knight Division. "You don't have to talk about diversity if you're showing diversity."

Which is one reason why Ricks keeps coming back. She wants to make sure that aspiring journalists know that people of all ethnic backgrounds can be successful in the field.

"I look at the students who attend and I see myself," she said. "It would be almost criminal to get so much out of the organization and not want to put something back."

Role Models Foundation's activities include:
Publishing Role Models Today
Career shadowing, networking and mentoring
Annual youth advisers workshop and awards program
Summer Journalism Visitation Program at the UF college of journalism and communications
To learn more, visit the Role Models Today Web site at www.rolemodelstoday.org or call
Billie Monroe at 352 395-5264.

View the Summer Journalism Visitation Program from previous years:
1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008

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