Washington Association of Black Journalists'
Urban Journalism Workshop

Clockwise from center: James T. Davis, Rochelle Maya-Callen, Erika Jennings, Mia Hampton, Jason Cooper Boyer, Cherelle Heck, Anastasia N. Harris, Geraldine Faye Decembre

If you were anywhere in the NPR building on the weekends this spring you would have undoubtedly noticed something a bit peculiar. Eight local high school students, running around the building, in awe of their surroundings. Who were they and what were they doing here?

They were part of the Washington Association of Black Journalists' Urban Journalism workshop.

What's that?

Every year the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists gives local minority high school students and aspiring journalists the chance to gain unique hands on experience in radio, television and print journalism. Applicants come from across the region and the competition for this program is intense. Besides NPR, the selected group of students also met at The Washington Post, and WUSA-TV, Channel 9. The seven-week program culminates in a final project (a newspaper, a mock television newscast and a radio newscast)

This year's group of radio students was wonderful! Mia Hampton is a senior at Broad Run High School. She'll be attending Howard University in the fall. Anastasia Harris is a freshman at Maret School; Rochelle (Rocky) Maya-Callen is a junior at Cedar Brook Academy; Erika Jennings is a freshman at Montgomery Blair High School; Geraldine (Gerri) Decembre is a junior at Bishop O'Connell High School; James Davis is a sophomore at Suitland High School; Cherelle Heck is a junior at Suitland High School, and Jason Boyer is a sophomore at James Hubert Blake High School. All of them were enthusiastic, intelligent and talented. It is clear the future of public radio is secure if these kids' careers lead them back to NPR.

The final radio project was a potpourri of issues, views, opinions and poetry conceived and written entirely by the kids. This program, which they named Straight Up: Urban Voice, set the standard for future projects in the years to come. These kids dealt with everything, from issues surrounding sexual orientation in high school, to teen drag racing, to community service programs involving high schoolers. We featured a book review, a newscast and a unique natural sound feature compiled from all of the sound the kids gathered when they took their mini discs out into the streets of Washington.

The project was presented May 18 during a banquet at The Washington Post and received tremendous praise from parents, students and other local journalists. Take a listen!! I know you’ll have the same reaction!

Countless hours of support from a number of volunteers here at NPR made this possible.

Many thanks go to Trina Williams and Frank Stasio of the Newscast Unit, Jamila Bey of Morning Edition, and Doug Mitchell of Next Generation Radio. One of Frank's friends Laura Doggett, who has a great deal of experience working with kids in radio, was also a tremendous help.

Strong words of praise and heartfelt thanks to NPR's engineering staff, all of which understood the importance of this project. Ted Mebane, Rene Pringle, Abdullah Rufus, Josh Rogosin, Shawn Campbell, Kimberly Jones, and Andrea Jackson-Gwertz were a tremendous help giving up their nights and weekends to the project. Without their ears and expertise, this project would not have been a success.

Special thanks goes to Jay Kernis, Scott Simon, Kee Malesky, Paul Brown, Sean Collins, Gwen Thompkins, Phillip Davis, Snigdah Prakash, Richard Gonzales, Mandalit Del Barco, Cheryl Corley and Wilma Consul -- all of whom stopped by and shared their professional experience with the kids. Extra special thanks to White House Correspondent April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks and WHUR's Stephanie Gaines Bryant for taking time out of their busy schedules to come by NPR to speak to the kids. The wealth of knowledge everyone shared with the group is invaluable.

I know I’m leaving folks out who helped either directly or indirectly with the project. On behalf of everyone involved with Straight Up: Urban Voice and the WABJ, my humble thanks to NPR for making this project a reality.

See ya next year!!