Oh the diversity!

Reynolds High School Journalism Institute attendees were engaged in discussions of diversity by Rick Rodriguez and Sharon Bramlett-Solomon. Rodriguez and Bramlett-Solomon are both members of the ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Rodriguez's focus was on the necessity of newspapers to engage reporters in in-depth reporting of issues relevant to a community. Rodriguez shared many significant statistics about the changing population in the U.S.

“Behind all of the numbers are people whose stories are waiting to be told,” Rodriguez said. “Who will tell their stories? Hopefully students like yours.”

He believes that reporters must establish trust with members of different racial, ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds before their reporting can be effective and relevant.

Bramlett-Solomon's focus was on what high school newspaper advisers can do to make their school papers more diverse. Bramlett-Solomon (pictured left) encouraged teachers to:
1) Discuss with their news staff why diversity matters,
2) Share a bit of press history,
3) Emphasize diversity wherever needed and
4) Conduct an assessment of the outcomes of what worked and what didn't.

During Bramlett-Solomon's session, class members shared their own stories of success and failure as it relates to being inclusive and representing as many diverse perspectives as possible in their school newspapers.

Trampus Willis
South Side High School
Fort Wayne, Ind.