Welcome To Future Journalist Society

 The Future Journalist Society (FJS) is a dynamic program for children ages 7 to 14, introducing them to news reporting, storytelling, and media literacy while building essential skills in writing, presenting, interviewing, and critical thinking. More than just focusing on journalism, FJS fosters communication, leadership, and analytical thinking while encouraging curiosity and informed decision-making. They learn skills through lesson plans and workshops where they can work with each other and a mentor. Being able to collaborate and cooperate with other people can be immensely beneficial for them when they are out in the field. By developing these skills, members can transfer these skills to other areas in their lives.

Members gain hands-on experience in traditional journalism and the evolving digital media landscape through monthly training, interactive workshops, and one-on-one mentorship. The workshops are set up to help build skills and provide useful information, not just in traditional journalism. Mentors can specifically help through sharing feedback and being a resource. Mentors can also work with members to provide general advice and help motivate them.

Beyond the newsroom, FJS prepares them for any future, whether as journalists, scientists, doctors, teachers, or entrepreneurs. The skills they develop empower them to think independently, communicate effectively, and confidently lead in an ever-changing world. They will be well-equipped to think critically and have the skills to look at media with a critical eye. They will be able to spot bias and discern what a news article is saying.

Members of FJS will be future journalists, as well as future scientists, doctors, teachers, economists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. *One of the goals of FJS is to help members improve on their current skills and introduce new skills.

Journalists are important because they are the key to getting the news out to different news sources. Without them, everyday people would not know about the world around them or be informed about important events going on. Some reputable news sources are PBS, NPR (National Public Radio), and CBS News.

These news stations are just not sources of information, they also provide helpful programming. PBS has a substation dedicated to children’s programming called PBS Kids which has shows ranging from teaching about science to problem solving. PBS also has numerous documentaries ranging from histories like World War I and II to important people like Martin Luther King Jr. These documentaries teach people history and science to millions of people for free.

These news stations are just some of the hundreds of news stations that we depend on but they would not be as effective without the journalists who go out into the field and report on events. Some of these journalists include people like Ida B. Wells, Robin Roberts from Good Morning America and Anderson Cooper to name a few.

 Who: kids ages 7 to 14

What: The program will be able to help participants practice their writing and interpersonal skills. This will be done through weekly topics, monthly events, activities and practice. They will be able to practice interviewing, asking questions and speaking in front of a camera. The participants will also have the opportunity to interact with other participants and exchange ideas. They will use these interactions to learn how to express their opinions respectfully.

Since being a journalist requires being comfortable with speaking in front of a camera, the participants will get opportunities to practice this. They will be given assignments where they will give a video report. For every assignment, they will be able to get feedback from a mentor.

There will also be opportunities to learn about different career fields and opportunities in journalism. They will get to see where they can go and use their skills.

Participants: Participants will learn how to ask questions and build essential skills that will be useful in journalism as well in other areas of their lives. They will also be able to work with other participants and collaborate with one another on programs. Participants will give each other feedback on assignments. To join, send us a personal statement to journalist@lifesmarteducation.org. Please write a bit about yourself,  such as your name, age, phone number, and why you want to participate in this project.

Mentors: Mentors are college students who are able to provide advice and feedback for participants. Participants can also work with mentors to create news stories. Mentors can be contacted via teams. Mentors are there to help with program planning as well as meet one-on-one with participants.

When: yearly

- Workshops will be 2-3 hours per week

- Will need more information about times and how long the program with last

 LifeSmart Education is a nonprofit based in Ohio dedicated to helping under-resourced youth. We offer various programs to help kids gain life management skills. Through our programs, we foster self-motivation and determination to help students become self-reliant. 

James is a participant in the program and is working on a story on his peers’ opinions of their school’s phone policy. His school's phone policy states that phones cannot be used in school. But he does not really like writing and finds it tedious. He talks to his mentor about his idea and how he does like to write. His mentor tells him to break up the writing into small chunks, so it becomes more manageable. She asks him to come up with four questions he could ask a few of his peers. Two of the questions should be open ended and the other two should be yes or no questions.

He started by thinking up questions he could ask his peers. He thought of what questions would be important to ask. What questions would get him the information he needed? Some of the questions he thought of included: What are your thoughts on the phone policy? Do you feel like the rules around having a phone out is fair? He showed his questions to his mentor, and she said that they were well written and asked him if he was ready to interview his peers. James told her he was nervous, but he was ready to talk to his peers.

James asked eight of his friends to meet him to be interviewed. He asked them questions about their opinions on the phone policies. He got a variety of answers but overall, they were in favor of the policy. He then got to writing his article. He spent some time with his mentor to get some advice and feedback on how to outline the article and what could be an effective title. He came up with a few different variations before coming up with a final title.