Young Journalists Meet at Franklin Pierce University

by Marguerite Dooley
Presidency and the Press

As summer plans were being built and the school year wrapped up, Whitman-Hanson Regional High School sophomore Gianna Cacciatore received an email from her guidance counselor telling her about a local journalism conference.

Cacciatore had taken a TV and radio production class at her school the previous semester and was eager to continue expanding her knowledge of journalism.

The program takes place this July and uses the equipment and space of the Marlin Fitzwater Communications Center at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH and extends out to Manchester, NH for interviews and meetings with state and federal representatives of all aspects from the media.  Professors stress necessary interview and editing skills and allow students to broaden their experience with tape recorders, cameras and computer editing software.

Cacciatore had taken a TV and radio production class at her school the previous semester and was eager to continue expanding her knowledge of journalism.  A face-to-face interview with former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater marks the end of the conference and gives students an opportunity to emphasize the skills they learn during the previous week.  This interview, directed and planned by each participating student, allows for one-on-one time with a nationally recognized journalist and an introduction into the world of political journalism.

Cacciatore said that the “most exciting and intriguing aspect of the program was the ultimate interview,” she had been looking forward to it from the beginning and said it was a driving force behind her excitement about joining the program.

The young student plans to take experiences from the conference with her to college, planning to study history or communications at Columbia University in New York.