Journalism? Ways to improve my skills over summer and through high school?

Congratulations for taking this seriously. Not many high schoolers know what they want to do in life and you're one of the few wise ones.

There are many ways you can do to continuously practice your skills.

One, you can look for magazines that target high school readers like Seventeen, Cosmo Girl, etc. These kinds of magazines accept contributions from high-schoolers like you. Just drop by any ordinary magazine shop in your area and look for these kinds of magazines.

Then, contact the editors and ask them if they accept contributions and what is the process of contributing stories. 90% of the time, these editors will welcome contributions.

Second, continue reading. Reading is a must for any writer. Reading great literature will help you in your grammar, sentence structure, syntax, etc. Reading can also give you many ideas that can help your writing.

Read everything you can get your hands on--newspapers, books, magazines, flyers, etc. A good exercise would be to edit flyers and pamphlets you see around. Many of them are poorly written and this will help you sharpen and improve your editing skills.

Third, practice writing. Write anything--short stories, poetry, essays, even personal journals. Writing is a skill that can never perfected that's why it's very important that you continuously write. You can also maintain a blog if you're more techie.

It isn't pointless to do a job shadow! If you're really hungry to learn more about journalism, any amount of time you can spend talking to professional journalists is well worth it.

Try to arrange more than one shadow -- you might be able to hit multiple newspapers or TV or radio stations.

When you go on the job shadow, ask if it's possible to meet the internship coordinator while you are there. Ask about the internship programs. Even if it is several years before you can get an internship, keep in touch with this person. Check in every six months or so by e-mail, telling the internship coordinator what you've been doing to get more experience (send an article or two you've written, talk about what classes you are taking, etc.) Say that you're just keeping in touch and you anticipate applying for an internship in Fall 2009 or whenever. Then when it comes time to apply, you might have an edge.

Other things you could do on your own:

Come up with a creative topic and start a blog. I see that the Enterprise-Record is soliciting for bloggers. Have you applied? Here's the link:

http://www.norcalblogs.com/multimedia/2007/03/inte...

Is there a church, neighborhood or community group newsletter you receive that you could volunteer for? You could offer to write, take photos or even proofread.

And read, read, read. Find stories that you think are particularly effective and deconstruct them. Make a map of when the facts are presented, when quotes are used, etc. Being able to structure news stories effectively is something that usually takes some experience. But it's something you can teach yourself with some studying like this. Then you'll have an edge over other journalism students.

Go for it! I mean it! When it comes time for them to hire someone, who do you think they'll look for? And take it seriously, too, if you're going to do it. I.e., be on time. Act like it Is a job. The reporter, if you're good, may let you try some things. At the very least, you'll meet a lot of people, many of whom may be very helpful to know, later. If you find after a week that you really don't like it, ask if you can broaden your experience by shadowing a variety of jobs. Seriously, when I wanted to work for a radio station, the man said, "Hang around. Just hang around, and eventually you'll get hired." But I Could Not Afford to "Hang Around." I was already grown and Had to have a pay job! Just think, when you get old enough for a real job, you'll already have a resume plus contacts and references! I am so proud to know you, just this much!

P.S. In your "off hours," you might enjoy writing Letters to the Editor, all kinds of places. See how many get published. This will be good for your portfolio.

Start your own news service.

Dress up like a reporter, meaning professional, not jeans and T-shirt.

Then, during your time off, go to fires and accidents and all of that, and just stand in the crowd with a tape recorder, notepad, etc, just like everyone else.

Other reporters and camera people might ask you questions, tell them, "I am starting my own news service." Before you know it, you'll be a human interest story, and people will offer you internships and jobs, or you'll meet people who know people. Do not be shy do not be nervous, get out there and do it, just like the pros, until you are one.

When it happens, let us know.

Good luck.

Following real reporter seem like good thing to me. I would have been pretty excited for something like that. You can talk with those reporters right? Have discussions and stuff. Talk about events, issues...etc.

I think the problem might be there may be lot of college students competing for real internships. So you're probably at back of the line behind those college students who have taken more classes, have more experiences...etc.

Do the shadow! Then try to write a story yourself about whatever assignment you wnet on. Compare it to the reporter you shadowed, maybe even get him/her to explain to you how to improve yours.

And really, see if you can find a small independet paper that will let you write some freelance stuff for them, maybe just for a very small amount of money first. You can even volunteer if there is something like a community magazine where you live. Just get writing.

I love number 19: "You can send telepathic messages to your mom to tell her to pick you up just as you're finishing your breakup song with your boyfriend." I was thinking the same thing while watching the movie.