Instructors of MediaNow

"I like the opportunity to talk to kids and just see what you guys are thinking about, what you want to know, what you want to learn.  It doesn't have to be journalism-related things.  I talked to a woman yesterday who's a student here.  She's very interested in medicine and journalism.  Those are two very unique, different things.  But that's just amazing.  There's so many things you can do...

"Working with kids like this, you know a lot of them don't have very much experience with photography, and they leave here better than they came.  To me, that's inspiring because they get inspired with it.  Hopefully they'll take those skills back to their school and continue to learn.  So that's why I do it—I just love working with the students.  I should have been a teacher."

"It's fun to come.  It's intense and sometimes you're tired while you're here, but it's a fun thing to do.  It's a good experience." - Chris Snider

"One of the things I really like is it recharges me as an adviser, and I gain ideas and insight from the other instructors that then I can take back to my own students—even just some of the team-building and fun games that Kate does in the morning, those warm-ups, are things I like to steal and do with my own students.  The energy is just really inspiring and rewarding for me to then pay it forward...

"A big part of what I'm trying to instill in the guys is asking good questions.  That's a foundation not only for good reporting but for life, so I came up with this exercise called the Tarzan exercise.  You guys know Tarzan; he swings from branches, so the goal was to go into a conversation with another person with an open mind.  Start asking them questions and when they respond, you keep the conversation...

"We have done a couple of writing exercises already and right now they're working on their final piece which is a profile story—not any one thing in particular—but every time we've had the students share what they've been working on, just hearing their writing and them reading it aloud and how wonderful it is and what amazing writers they are.  It's just great to be working with students who care...

"What I appreciate each year is when kids leave here in a better place, more confident, and with something that is going to help them in their program.  My editors are working on staff manuals and production cycles and things that are really going to help set them up for success."

"I enjoy working with the professionals and the high school instructors, too, because it is something that I don't get to do in my professional life as much as I would like.  When I listen to him [Odell] and Gary, and other professionals talk to students, I pick up things that I get to use in my classes."

"Teaching kids that Journalism is still a valuable thing to do—it may not be done the way I learned to do it as a newspaper photographer—but it is still a valuable thing to do because there always has to be somebody who does the checks and balances on administration no matter what: local, federal, and state.  They should just get information and should be a buffer between those and the reader,...