JOURNALISM PROGRAM FOR MULTICULTURAL TEENS EXPANDS

NEW PALTZ — Applications are now being accepted for the third annual Summer Institute of Journalism to be held at the State University of New York at New Paltz July 8 through 17.

The Summer Institute is a scholarship program designed for students from groups now underrepresented in the field of journalism, including African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans.

Fifteen students will be selected to participate in the Institute, based on criteria that include their grades and an application essay. The program is designed for college-bound students who have completed their junior or senior year of high school.

For the second straight year, the New York Newspapers Foundation has given the Institute a grant to assist in the support of an expanded summer journalism program.

Established in 1977, the Foundation gives grants on behalf of the New York Newspaper Publishers Association and encourages education, study, and research in all fields relating to the press. Its chairman, Richard K. Wager, was instrumental in obtaining the $5,000 grant.

“We consider this an exciting project which we hope will lead to journalistic careers for these young people,” stated Wager, who is also president and publisher of the Poughkeepsie Journal. “The Foundation is pleased to support this program again this year,” he added.

During the 10-day program, students will learn news gathering and interviewing techniques, write news articles and feature stories, and publish their own newspaper, Up Country. Seminars will be taught by journalism instructors from SUNY New Paltz and journalists from the Hudson Valley area and New York City. Students will reside on campus, with the College providing chaperones, supplies, room, board, and travel stipends.

The College’s journalism program is the largest and most active professionally-oriented training in the entire New York state public university system. New Paltz has 7,600 graduate and undergraduate students, 17 percent of whom are students of color, the second highest of the 13 university colleges.

For information and applications, contact Dr. Robert Miraldi, the Institute’s director and chairman of the College’s Department of Communication and Media, at 257-3460.