SRL’s Spring Training Recap – National conventions, intimate workshops, and lots in-between
May 23, 2025
By: Anthony Payne
Nothing beats hands-on, guided learning, face-to-face. Outside of our larger programs like the Summer Academy and Teacher Workshop, we look for as many opportunities as possible to collaborate IRL and make video production accessible to reporters-in-the-making across the country. Here’s a summary of the sessions and workshops we hosted this spring to train teachers and act as launchpads for young people to become civic-minded reporters, ready to inform their communities.
Best Buy’s Teen Tech Center in St. Louis, MO (February 25 & 26)
Best Buy’s Teen Tech Centers offer a place where teens can explore their interests in programming, film-making, music production and design. Each location works to bridge the digital divide by giving youth access to tech education opportunities, relationships, and tools for school and career success.
Youth Media Producer Becky Wandel and Youth Media Program Director Victor Fernandez led a two-day afterschool crash course in interview production. On Day 1, they broke down how to prepare for an interview, hunt for sound bites, and ask open-ended, generative questions that produce great answers. The students teamed up to film some Rapid Responses about the technology they’re passionate about.
Day 2 was all about editing. Students learned how to take their projects from script to timeline, and were introduced to some editing best-practices. Becky and Victor walked them through organizing their dailies, useful shortcuts, and common pitfalls that trip up even experienced editors. The workshop ended with a screening of the student projects. This was many of these students’ first exposure to production, and we’re excited to see how they continue to grow as journalists!
The WQED Creator Academy in Pittsburgh, PA (March 12 & May 17)
In partnership with WQED’s Creator Academy, we hosted two FREE, in-person professional development workshops, designed especially for educators interested in marrying storytelling and technology in the classroom. The workshop also included a tour of WQED studios, home of the famous Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood!
At SRL, we believe in teaching students to use the tools they have at home – no fancy equipment required. The WQED Creator Academy is a come-as-you-are experience – we only ask that teachers bring their curiosity, creativity, and a smartphone. Throughout the workshop, SRL and WQED staff led the teachers through four stations, diving into interviewing and audio setup, camera composition, lighting techniques, and mobile editing with software like CapCut, Rush, and iMovie. The workshop expounded on the different types of mobile journalism that are popular today, and provided teachers with the skills to teach their students to produce the mobile news content they enjoy on TikTok and Instagram.
SRL x WHYY at Pennsylvania’s National Liberty Museum (March 27)
In collaboration with WHYY, we hosted a professional development training session about the ins and outs of mobile journalism at the National Liberty Museum. Marie Cusick, SRL’s Editorial Director, and Lisa Wilk, Director of School Partnerships at WHYY, designed the training session to give teachers tools to teach journalism on a budget.
Lisa and Marie set the tone by opening with an exploration of the museum’s First Amendment exhibit, a walkthrough of the roots of civic discourse and the challenges to free speech across history.
“Having something like this here, at the National Liberty Museum, adds a whole other layer contextually and spiritually to the work that we’re doing in our classrooms,” said Katie Owens, an English and media studies teacher at Abbington Heights High School.
During the training, Marie and Lisa ran hands-on tutorials on equipment like microphones, tripods, and editing apps, so the thirteen educators present could bring these skills back to their classrooms. These production lessons included B-roll tutorials and spotlights on some affordable mobile journalism equipment, like the free Blackmagic Cam app (tutorials available on StoryMaker!).
It’s no secret to teachers how difficult it is to supply a full-size classroom with high quality cameras. This session aimed to give educators the skills to teach their students to use the technology they carry in their pockets every day.
Maryland-DC J-Day at The University of Maryland (April 4)
Over 500 college students came together at the University of Maryland for Maryland-DC J-Day 2025, a conference that summoned speakers from the professional journalism world to share their skills and professional philosophies. For our session, SRL staff were joined by Ashley Porter, a video production teacher at D.C. International School, and some SRL alums to share how they got involved with SRL, and tips to empower student journalists to speak on the issues that matter to them without apprehension.
There are some stories that are best told by young people, and at SRL we want to make sure students know that doing so is within their power. One common sentiment we’ve encountered is that students are very focused on producing high quality content, and may see TV-grade equipment as an expensive barrier to entry. 
We sought to bring attention to some affordable mobile journalism tools that won’t break the bank, and guide them to collaborate with and add public media and local news outlets to their networks – partnership with purpose!
JEA/NSPA’s National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle, WA (April 24-26)
In April we swung by the Emerald City for the Journalism Education Association’s spring conference, the nation’s largest gathering of high school journalists, advisers and journalism teachers. Emily Tkaczibson, SRL’s Operations and Development Director, and Chris Schwalm, media arts teacher at The Overlake School (and former SRL Youth Media Producer!) led a session all about solutions journalism.
Solutions journalism (AKA SoJo) is a framework for reporting about how people are trying to solve problems, and what we can learn from their successes and failures. Solutions stories don’t advocate for specific responses – rather they spotlight what was done, what worked and what didn’t. SRL incorporates SoJo in many of our prompts and resources, encouraging students to report on solutions instead of problems. We want to remind students that objectivity and passion are not mutually exclusive.
Chris and Emily were joined by some SRL alums to share how students can pitch stories to SRL for national publication and get support from professional journalists. If you’ve got a fire story pitch burning a hole in your pocket, we want to hear it! Check out the SRL pitch form and guidelines here.
These workshops are made possible through collaboration with local PBS stations. Amidst threats to federal funding, many public media stations across the country will have no choice but to shut down the free education opportunities they offer their communities. To help support public media, send your message to Congress now to protect it. Learn more about what you can do at protectmypublicmedia.org, and for more information, read this Founder’s Note from SRL Executive Director Leah Clapman.