The Karson Institute at Loyola University Maryland has announced today that it is running its second year of The Ida B. Wells Civic and Journalism Mini-Institute in partnership with Roland Park Middle Elementary School.
Better known as “Backpack Journalism” the program is designed to give students the power, tools, and training to tell their own stories- of their neighbors, communities, and themselves.
Dr. Kaye Whitehead, who is the director of the Karson, said “the Karson is putting the tools of the trade into the hands of students and empowering them to be a voice in their own communities. My hope is that by participating in the program a real shift will take place in how their stories are reported and discussed.”
Shireen Robinson, assistant principal at Roland Park Middle Elementary Schools, wants “the students to take away the skills and gain the confidence to recognize that no one’s story is more important than another’s story.”
The program works with a diverse group of 25 seventh graders at the school and goes in for weekly sessions giving the students different projects. The students are given cameras, audio recorders and notebooks to use for their projects and are given weekly assignments allowing them to interview adults, reflect on what they see in their lives, and then express themselves through the use of journalism.
“The first year finished with much success as the program taught ninth grade students at all semesters long about civic responsibility and backpack journalism,” Dr. Whitehead said. “The program was able to showcases its success in doing that with a list of journalistic assignments being upload to the programs website.”
About the Karson Institute
Founded in 2020 on the campus of Loyola University Maryland, the Karson Institute provides a scholarly space for professors, students, social justice workers, and activist to come together to research, discuss, debate, and explore answers to America’s most urgent questions on inequality, injustice, and racial inequality. The Ida B. Wells Civic and Journalism Mini-Institute which was previously partnered with City Neighbors high School, is going into its second year with Roland Park Middle Elementary School where its goal is to be a hands on program teaching students about civic responsibility and backpack journalism, specifically how to write and tell their stories about their own Baltimore City communities.
