Day of Giving funds send students into the chaos of breaking news

When community members give on Day of Giving, they provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of high-impact learning activities.

“When community members give on Day of Giving, they provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of high-impact learning activities”

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In December, 10 media, communication and journalism majors attended Camp News, a two-day immersive broadcast journalism workshop designed to help hone students’ live reporting skills.

All 10 students received funds from the Dean’s Council Annual Fund, which is supported in part by Day of Giving donations.

Day of Giving is an annual, 24-hour, online fundraising effort beginning at midnight and running through 11:49 p.m. on Wednesday, March 18.

Camp News splits into two distinct parts at different locations: the news anchor camp at Pepperdine University and the reporter camp in the canyons of Malibu.

At the anchor camp, students navigate doing a newscast during a live, breaking car chase.

“When community members give on Day of Giving, they provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of high-impact learning activities”

today.fresnostate.edu

Kim Stephens, journalism lecturer at Fresno State and mentor at Camp News, said students work with a helicopter reporter as they report the event and see it for the first time.

At the reporter camp, students confronted a chaotic breaking news simulation featuring actors in full costume and makeup portraying victims, distraught family members or suspicious characters alongside real law enforcement and emergency medical technicians, including members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and undercover police officers.

The program keeps each year’s scenario tightly guarded, and this year’s simulation included a deadly fire at a home that was a suspected marijuana lab while DEA and sheriff’s deputies conducted a fentanyl drug bust at a nearby home.

“When community members give on Day of Giving, they provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of high-impact learning activities”

today.fresnostate.edu

Students described the environment as chaotic and said they practiced gathering information, directing photographers, interviewing people, asking questions at a news conference, writing, editing and delivering a live, on-air report.

Olivia Pavao, a mass communication and journalism student, said during orientation they heard sirens and went outside to find fire trucks, and Finnley Pendergast, a broadcast journalism student, said it took him a couple of minutes to set in and that he learned a lot in the first 10 minutes.

Isaac Marquez, a broadcast journalism student, said he did not expect the camp to be as vibrant and described keeping his 'head on a swivel' amid constant activity.

Mentors with broadcast news experience guided each reporting team and helped students expand their professional networks beyond the local area.

Students said they are grateful to Day of Giving and the Dean’s Council Annual Fund donors for providing hands-on experience; Isaac Marquez said donors are 'allowing me to get out there and do what I love' and Olivia Pavao thanked donors for helping her discover her career goals.

“When community members give on Day of Giving, they provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of high-impact learning activities”

today.fresnostate.edu

Kim Stephens said the immersive experience allowed students to apply classroom learning in a high-pressure environment and that 'you can learn it in a class. You can read it in a book. We can give you the best experience with Fresno State Focus, but [at Camp News] it’s expanded even further.'

That kind of impact is what Day of Giving is designed to make possible, and Fresno State’s annual 24-hour, online Day of Giving will be Wednesday, March 18; the College of Arts and Humanities relies on private financial support such as funds raised from Day of Giving, and for questions about how to support arts and humanities students contact Adam Goldberg at [email protected] or 559.278.8344.