For more than 20 years, the CCNMA Multi-Cultural Journalism Workshop has been a first step toward a successful career for many aspiring young journalists. Graduates have gone on to work for the New York Times, the Miami Herald, KGTV, the Boston Globe, NBC 7/39 and KSWB, just to name a few. Students spend two weeks each summer at a journalism boot camp, guided by professional journalists in the classroom, but most importantly, out in the field. That field experience in a student's journalism career is commonly reserved for juniors and seniors at the university level. The students produce a newspaper, a television newscast and a radio newscast. But they also attend classes on writing and grammar and participate in panel discussions on ethics in journalism and interviewing techniques. The workshop is open to high school juniors and seniors from San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties. Applications are available in January and the workshop is usually held in June at a local university. The goal is to inspire the students to pursue careers in journalism, especially in communities where minorities are greatly underrepresented. Our workshop students have covered a wide range of stories from former President Bill Clinton's visit to San Diego, musician Sheryl Crowe's concert and baseball great Tony Gwynn. Their newscasts can be seen on NBC 7/39 and heard on KPBS radio. The newspaper is distributed at CCNMA's annual La Pluma Journalism Awards Ceremony. Here's what past participants have to say: "I'm so glad for the opportunity and I value all that I learned from the people that worked with us for those two weeks of my life." ---Chenin Bridgeman. Class of 2001 "I was finally able to recognize my own talent as a writer and a journalist. Somehow the world -- and not just the journalism world -- materialized itself before me for the very first time. These elements; a sense of self sufficiency or esteem, call it what you like, and getting a real feel for what the future holds are absolutely vital to success regardless of what career goal one might have. And although someday they might be my competition, meeting other aspiring journalists as well as the professionals really impacted my sense of what a journalist does. It gave me a sturdy foundation for which to build my new self upon and I met a lot of interesting people who helped me envision myself in a new way. The group bond fostered a feeling of comfort and security, always an ideal with me." ---Chance Hillott, Class of 2001 "I was introduced to people who truly cared about what they do, and it helped me develop that same passion. Hopefully it will also help me in deciding my future plans and goals." ---Ami Patel, Class of 2001 The San Diego and Inland Empire chapters of the California Chicano News Media Association organize the workshop. Their principal partners are The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Riverside Press-Enterprise, NBC 7/39 and KPBS radio. The instructors are reporters, editors and photographers from those media organizations. Since 1982, the San Diego workshop has trained over 400 high school students. It is one of the oldest such programs in the nation. Approximately two-thirds of the students have subsequently attended college and have graduated. In some cases, the former workshop students working in journalism are returning to help the newest workshop participants. In 1998, the National Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication honored the San Diego workshop as the best such program in the country. Plans are under way for the next workshop, where more seeds will be planted for the next generation of journalists. Download application (.pdf document) View letter to educators (.pdf document) Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view links above. Get this free utility now.