Journalism has been around for centuries. Many careers come from journalism, and many different things can be studied. Whether someone chooses sports journalism, news broadcasting, or editing, there is always a route for just about everyone. For many years, the Lewis Cass Kings’ Courier has attended the annual J-Day, hosted at Ball State University. This year was the 70th anniversary of J-Day. Students get to walk around campus, as if they were a student, and attend class-like sessions with topics of their choice. Sessions go on all day with scheduled times for each. Speakers for each session have their own experience with journalism, and are ready to teach intrigued students about their career.
As mentioned, the Kings’ Courier Journalism class has attended this event for many years. With this comes lots of opportunity, and plenty of room for learning how to improve our own style of editing and writing here at Lewis Cass. Sophomore and first-year Courier member, Lilly Hammond, has attended J-Day the past two years. She has seen the differences in the sessions, experiences, and people who attend the event. When asked about the major differences between this and last year, Lilly mentioned, “I think one major difference is the time. Last year, we had enough time to attend three breakout sessions along with the keynote speaker, so I feel we were able to learn and branch out more.” Having less time this year made it difficult for students from Lewis Cass to attend more sessions. Last year, students attended three sessions, compared to this year, where they could only attend two sessions. Hammond was asked which sessions she attended and one major takeaway she learned. She said, “I went to the session Designing Stories with Purpose: Using Design Thinking for Innovative Story-telling. I learned a lot about creative thinking and how to really know your audience in order to excel more.” Students who attend these sessions can learn material they can utilize when producing the Kings’ Cast and their Courier articles. Lastly, Lilly was asked what she most looks forward to about approaching J-Day. Hammond said, “ I most look forward to having the freedom to break apart from the group and learn about things that truly interest me.”
Everyone can have different experiences at J-Day, whether they enjoy it or just go to get out of school. Some students who attended this year did not attend the event last year. One of those students is sophomore, Alana Fagan. She is a first-year member of the Kings’ Courier this year. She has been able to experience a full year of the class and then attend J Day to develop her skills for the upcoming years. Alana was asked, as a person who has been in the class for a year, how her first year at J-Day was. Fagan responded, “I think my first year at J-Day was pretty fun. I loved getting to walk around with my friends and going to sessions with them. I also loved getting Starbucks and Chick-fil-A.” There were many places students were able to explore and get some food, like Starbucks, if they desired and had time. These opportunities gave students and attendees the full experience of being in college and having freedom. Fagan got to attend two sessions this year, and said this about them, “ I went to the session How I became a Superhero and How You Can to and How to Become the Perfect Editor. My favorite was how to become the perfect editor because he taught us about time management and how to respect our advisors, whereas in the first session, the guy just talked about how great he was.” Alana also experienced the time crunch that Lewis Cass had because of transportation. When asked what she would improve next year, Fagan suggested, “One thing I would do to improve J-Day is next time to hopefully take a smaller bus, so we can have more time and not feel as rushed to get our food and sessions.”
Last year, when the newspaper staff attended, new students joining the class were able to attend before being in the class this year, making it possible to get an initial look into the world of journalism. Liberty Preston, a senior joining the journalism class next year, was able to attend J-Day and get a look into the group, and see what she will be experiencing. Liberty was asked about her experience at J-Day as a newcomer. Preston said, “J-Day was an amazing experience for me. I loved getting to see how college students live their daily lives, attend classes, and be on their own schedule. Also, I loved getting to learn about different career options for my future.” Being able to see inside the basic day on campus and being able to get a look into what students are learning about in the journalism world is always something cool to experience. Preston was also asked if going to J-Day made her more excited to be in the class this next school year. She mentioned, “Yes, J-Day definitely made me more excited to be in the class because I loved learning from the sessions, and I think being in the class will also increase my writing skills and help teach me how to edit and work the camera.” Like all the other students attending, Liberty attended a session and learned more about her chosen topic. When asked what session she attended, Liberty said, “ I attended the TV News Reporting session and Covering Sports as a Student Journalist session. My favorite would have to be the TV News Reporting session because I got to learn about how being on TV works and what News Reporters do, and how they live their daily routines. TV News Reporting was also my favorite because being on TV has always been a dream of mine, and I love communicating with others.”
Overall, this experience at J-Day is an amazing learning opportunity for students and teachers all around. Ball State has been helping create future journalists for 70 years now, and will continue to do so for many years to come. The Lewis Cass Kings’ Courier and Cast will continue to attend these events as well to help future students learn more about journalism and develop the journalistic world as a whole.
