About us

In 2019, we taught more than 600 students at both locations — American University in Washington, D.C., and at the University of California, Berkeley.
In newswriting classes and entertainment communication classes, we used the Teen Observer website to showcase some of the student work.
We published 20 stories about Berkeley, talking to congregants about immigration and its role as a sanctuary church; interviewing vendors and customers about sustainability goals at the farmers’ market; and finding out what keeps coming to the city’s kite festival.
The D.C. classes produced stories about various businesses in the Tenleytown neighborhood, and about topics as varied as climate change, the 2020 election and Pride Month.
You’ll find those and more at The Teen Observer website.
DWC students in July 2018 on the set of WUSA9’s Great Day Washington show during a private tour of the CBS affiliate. Photo by Margot Susca

American University’s (AU) Discover the World of Communication program, developed by the School of Communication’s Sarah Menke-Fish and taught by various faculty each summer, combines forces with the National Student Leadership Conference to teach students from all over the world about journalism, scriptwriting, photography, broadcasting, gaming, music entertainment and public speaking as well as leadership.

Students visited the NBC affiliate in Washington in 2015, where they met the director in the control booth, watched a live newscast and talked to a meteorologist about how she prepares different weather segments for each broadcast. Photo by Logan Combest-Friedman
Students visited the NBC affiliate in Washington in 2015, where they met the director in the control booth, watched a live newscast and talked to a meteorologist about how she prepares different weather segments for each broadcast. Photo by Logan Combest-Friedman

About 600 students participate in Washington at AU, and more than 100 are enrolled in the West Coast location, the University of California-Berkeley. The 2019 Washington program runs from late June to late July, and the 2019 California workshops are in late July and early August. The hallmarks of the program: engagement and immersion.

In the journalism workshops, students write news and feature stories. They take several field trips to news outlets (including NBC studios) and get hands-on practice in interviewing throughout the Metro area to write articles for our website, the Teen Observer (teenobserver.com).

P1000898At Berkeley, we visit area newsrooms and meet with professional reporters, too. Previous sessions have included a trip to the San Francisco Chronicle, where students have been sitting in on the morning news meetings and talking with reporters and editors afterward.

High-school journalists in a recent Berkeley Sportswriting class took a tour of the Cal radio station, KALX 90.7 FM, in 2015, with the assistant sports director, David Straub, below center, who talked about his love of hockey and how he grew his research skills to now cover Cal’s football, basketball and baseball games on-air.

From left to right: Johann Castro, Alex Pepper, Austin Crawford, Zach Stubbs, David Straub, Raul Bernal, Havilah Higgins, Chelsea Siegal and Olivia Komosinski. Photo by: Haley Schikner
From left to right: Johann Castro, Alex Pepper, Austin Crawford, Zach Stubbs, David Straub, Raul Bernal, Havilah Higgins, Chelsea Siegal and Olivia Komosinski. Photo by Haley Schikner

Newswriting students in the Berkeley program interviewed vendors, shoppers, musicians and entertainers at the Berkeley downtown farmers’ market and met with Kimberly Veklerov, the editor in chief and president of The Daily Californian.

Whether they participate on the East Coast or West Coast, students learn how important it is to research a story and get the data and the details that indicate you’re a professional. They practice note-taking in order to capture accurate quotes. And they work together to take pictures for each other’s stories and to collaborate on the writing. They learn how to upload their stories to their website, built using the WordPress content-management system, and to tag them for easier discovery by search engines.

They learn how it important it is to read and to listen, and in doing so, how to get people to open up and have meaningful conversations with them.

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