Welcome to our New Website!

10 December 2018

World Journalism Institute Launches New Website

The World Journalism Institute (WJI) has launched a new website (https://wji.world/) that provides a colorful, in-depth peek at what journalism students can achieve through the institute’s annual summer program.

The updated, user-friendly website highlights the print, video, photography, and radio storytelling done by WJI graduates from around the country. The revamped website also presents alumni testimonies and streamlines the application process.

At WJI, enterprising students spend two weeks learning the best journalism storytelling techniques to succeed on the front lines of the modern media world. The Institute, held each May for a select group of journalism students, is now entering its 21st year. Professional journalists with reporting experiences from around the globe give the students hands-on learning experiences and mentoring. Donor-funded scholarships provide tuition, housing, and most meals at no cost to admitted students.

WJI believes in teaching through an emphasis on doing journalism – going beyond the classroom to develop stories. In recent years, WJI students have covered events such as a regional Midwest heritage festival and attended press conferences including one held by the governor of Iowa. The “student work” section of the WJI website displays many of these stories.

Last summer WJI’s instructors challenged the program’s 26 students from 17 states and three countries to take a closer look at the community surrounding the host campus of Dordt

College. The results included a profile of college professors who formed a rock band and a look at the development of an airport in the middle of a cornfield. Other stories featured the rebuilding of the local library after a fire, efforts to place flags on the graves of all veterans, and job creation efforts in Haiti by a local ministry. WJI reporters took viewers inside a home for women recently released from prison and a boat museum docked on the banks of the Floyd River.

Past WJI students have met and told the stories of a travelling street poet, police officers, schoolteachers, bicycle repair shop owners, and a World War II bugler who played taps for the fallen during the Battle of Iowa Jima. Students have gone to bakeries, farms, tattoo parlors, and a mini-golf course run by several generations of the same family.

WJI invites perspective students for future programs to immerse themselves in these stories and more on WJI’s new website. In addition, blog posts and photos detail experiences at past WJI programs. Meanwhile the website’s testimonials section offers video reviews from some of WJI’s recent alums:

• Alyssa Jackson from Grove City College: “I learned a lot about myself, and just what my strengths are, and also what my weaknesses are in the field of journalism."

• Danny Mooers from Dordt College: “WJI is an opportunity that you cannot find anywhere else - it's a two-week journalism course for free . . . all you have to do is get here; it was vital for my development as a young journalist."

• Molly Hulsey from Covenant College: “WJI became the keystone of my journalistic education. It helped me ‘learn the ropes’ probably more than an enclosed semester-long course could.”

• Jack Panyard from Liberty University: “The practice was awesome, and being able to get instant critique on my writing really helped me grow."

These testimonies and more on WJI’s website provide plenty of peer insight for students trying to decide about applying to WJI’s 2019 program.

The new website also features a list of the media outlets where WJI alumni have gone on to work, intern, or freelance. These include the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, World Magazine, and The World and Everything In It podcast.

WJI invites you to explore this new website and get to know the institute’s staff, mission statement, courses, and history. The website is now accepting applications for the 2019 version of WJI’s college course. Interested students can go online to view a typical schedule for one of our college courses and then click “apply now” to join WJI 2019 next May.

To apply, or for more information, please visit our website at https://wji.world/.

EXPLORE the life of a Christian journalist ♦ EXPAND your writing skills ♦ ENGAGE the world through your reporting ♦ EQUIP yourself with the multimedia tools needed to tell stories ♦ EARN paid internships