June 20, 2005

Contacts:
Janice Lee, deputy executive director, AAJA
(415) 346-2051, janicel@aaja.org

Keith Kamisugi (for AAJA)
(415) 876-0589 keith@keithpr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

High School Students of Color Selected for
'J Camp' Intensive Journalism Training

SAN FRANCISCO (June 27, 2005)  -- The Asian American Journalists Association, the nation's largest professional organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists, today announced the 42 high school students selected for "J Camp," a free six-day intensive journalism training program designed for young people of color. J Camp will be held Aug. 12-17, 2005, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

J Camp students will learn writing, broadcasting and photography from experienced, multi-cultural professional journalists with some of the country's top media outlets. Through exposure to all facets of journalism, J Camp participants learn what it takes to succeed in the media industry. And by residing on campus for the duration of the program, students are also provided an opportunity to interact with other aspiring journalists.

Coordinated by Josh Freedom du Lac, pop music critic for The Washington Post, and Neal Justin, television critic for the Star Tribune, J Camp will be taught by: Clea Benson, reporter, The Sacramento Bee; Kyndell Harkness, staff photographer, Star Tribune; Chris Macias, pop music critic, The Sacramento Bee; Jessika Ming, producer, KCAL-TV (Los Angeles); Neki Mohan, reporter/anchor, WPLG (Miami); and Curtis Taylor, city hall reporter, Newsday.

J Camp participants will also hear from speakers such as: Seventeen magazine editor Atoosa Rubenstein, Wall Street Journal Europe editor Raju Narisetti, NBC's Hoda Kotb; Sports Illustrated photography editor James Colton; and Chicago Tribune ombudsman Don Wycliff.

AAJA received 215 applicants for the program.  The 42 students selected are:

Lien Hoang, Center High School, Antelope, Calif.

Kevin Shin, Whitney High School, Cerritos, Calif.

Kevin Zhou, Monte Vista High School, Danville, Calif.

Snehee Khandeshi, San Dieguito, Encinitas, Calif.

Scarlett Yingvorapant, North Hollywood High School, Encino, Calif.

Lena Wong, Mountain View School, Los Altos, Calif.

Katherine Trujillo, Notre Dame Academy, Los Angeles, Calif.

Alejandra Martinez, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, Calif.

Ashley Adame, John W. North High School, Riverside, Calif.

Tarah Kharesboro, Leland High School, San Jose, Calif.

Vina Nguyen, W.C. Overfelt High School, San Jose, Calif.

Violet Salazar, Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Stockton, Calif.

Preston Wong, Norfolk Academy, Virginia Beach, Calif.

Lelan LeDoux, Hinkley High School, Aurora, Colo.

Rachel San Luis, Pine Creek High School, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Ami Nash, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Conn.

Charles Kunapermsiri, Woodrow Wilson Senior High School, Washington, D.C.

Andre Haughton, Boyd Anderson High School, Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.

Amanda Machado, HB Plant High School, Tampa, Fla.

Kevin Tucker, Vallivue High School, Nampa, Ind.

Kim Son Tran, Abraham Lincoln High School, Council Bluffs, Iowa

Devna Shukla, Northwest High School, Germantown, Md.

Brian Fung, Georgetown Day High School, Silver Spring, Md.

Adesola Holmes, Cass Technical High School, Detroit, Mich.

Siddharth Damania, Breck High School, Maple Grove, Minn.

Kauchee Vang, St. Paul Central Senior High School, St. Paul, Minn.

Lucy Sun, Central High School, Springfield, Mo.

Luann Fong, Corning East High School, Beaver Dams, N.Y.

Clifford Cassis, Science Skill Center High School, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Justine Gonzalez, High School for Environmental Studies, New York, N.Y.

Grace Kim, Hunter College High School, Whitestone, N.Y.

Dwayne Yates, Archbishop Hoban High School, Akron, Ohio

Jillian Kates, Lakota West High School, Hamilton, Ohio

Timothy Huynh, Manheim Township High School, Lancaster, Pa.

Alphonse Tam, Julia Reynolds Masterman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Nicole Diefenbach, Medina Valley High School, Castroville, Texas

Dolores Obregon, East Central High School, Elmendorf, Texas

Cory Stottlemyer, Clear Creek High School, League City, Texas

William Patterson, Ronald Reagan High School, San Antonio, Texas

Cole Spicker, Weber High School, N. Ogden, Utah

Candice Celestin, Robinson Secondary, Fairfax, Va.

Marie Mariano, Ocean Lakes High School, Virginia Beach, Va.

“Our industry spends a lot of time worrying about the future of journalism, but you can't be a part of J Camp without walking away with a renewed sense of optimism and excitement about the next generation,” said Justin. “J Camp is about pinpointing the potential superstars of tomorrow and making sure they get the tools, the encouragement and the mentors they need to take the next step.”

“Training the next generation of journalists is a cornerstone of AAJA's mission,” said Esther Wu, AAJA national president and a columnist/reporter for The Dallas Morning News. “Since J Camp was started in 2001, it has provided 167 students with hands-on training by some of the top newspaper reporters and broadcasters in this country. Perhaps no other high school journalism program has been as successful.”

“J Camp gives students the confidence to make a difference with a future career in journalism and provides a rich environment for building skills,” said Douglas W. Nelson, president of The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which is providing major funding for J Camp 2005. “The Casey Foundation believes strongly in giving young people a voice and increasing their opportunities for future leadership and making a strong connection to the community — our sponsorship of the 2005 program is a great fit with our mission.”

Additional funding and support for J Camp 2005 has been provided by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation's High School Journalism Project, AAJA Challenge Fund for Journalism, and individual donations.

Students surveyed from the first two years of J Camp showed interest in continuing their education in media. Of the respondents who were in college, 75 percent actively pursued journalism as a career, including majoring in journalism or communications fields and/or working for their school paper or other media.

Last year, journalists of color made up only 13 percent of staff at daily newspapers, according to the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Reports from the Radio-Television News Directors Association showed that people of color made up 22 percent of those on television news and 12 percent on radio last year. All figures fall far below the percentage of minorities in the U.S. population, which was 33 percent last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Comments from past J Camp students:

"This was, by far, the greatest experience I've had," said Elio Pichardo of Bronx, N.Y. "Never have I had such fun while learning at the same time."

"My fellow campers amazed me with all their passion and achievements," said Julie Yen of San Diego, Calif. "My instructors challenged and refined my writing skills. Each conversation left me in more awe of the talent around me. J Camp raised my expectations of and confidence in what I can do as a journalist."

Speakers from past J Camps include: Pulitzer Prize-winning Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein; CNN anchor Aaron Brown; Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr.; "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert; Hearst Newspapers Washington columnist Helen Thomas; ABC News senior correspondent Carole Simpson; and Rolling Stone contributing editor Touré.

"It was one of the best groups of high school journalists I've ever seen," said Sacramento Bee executive editor Rick Rodriguez.

About AAJA

The Asian American Journalists Association is a non-profit professional and educational organization with more than 2,300 members today. Founded in 1981, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry. AAJA’s mission is to encourage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) to enter the ranks of journalism, to work for fair and accurate coverage of AAPIs, and to increase the number of AAPI journalists and news managers in the industry. AAJA is an alliance partner in UNITY Journalists of Color, along with the Native American Journalists Association, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and National Association of Black Journalists.

About The Annie E. Casey Foundation

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a data-driven private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. The primary mission of the Foundation is to foster public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today’s vulnerable children and families.

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