College Course 2024
Course Summary
WORLD Journalism Institute’s College Course is a two-week, multimedia journalism boot camp for college students and recent college graduates hosted at Dordt University in Iowa.
Participants will be equipped with the practical skills needed to work in the field of journalism while engaging with a Biblical worldview. Experienced WORLD News Group reporters and editors instruct students on how to apply Scripture to the profession of journalism. Participants will learn how to report for print, digital, radio, and video platforms, and then receive hands-on experience in those areas, applying the lessons they learned in the classroom. During the two weeks, about fifteen seasoned journalists will instruct, edit students’ work line-by-line, and mentor a cohort of about thirty students.
Opportunities and Experience
Students will emerge from the course with:
A portfolio of pieces in multiple mediums, plus one week in either the broadcast, feature writing, or digital news writing track
An understanding of how to report with Biblical objectivity
A supportive network of like-minded peers and professionals
Experience and skills in the reporting and editing process, including proficiency with Adobe Premier and Audition
Participants who produce excellent work during the course also have the opportunity to get their work published on WORLD News Group platforms. Following the course, WJI students are eligible for a paid, four-to-eight-week internship with WORLD News Group and to become freelance contractors for WORLD.
Cost
Accepted students receive a full scholarship that covers tuition, housing, and meals. Our mission is to develop and equip the next generation of journalists to hone their craft and report from a Biblically objective worldview.
The Ideal Candidate
College students and recent college graduates are eligible to apply. Two years of college credit, experience working for a publication, and/or published work adds to the likelihood of being accepted to this competitive course.
Ideal candidates will also have:
An active and professed faith in Jesus Christ
A curiosity about the world
A desire to understand how the Bible informs our perspective on current events
A teachable disposition
This intensive is designed to stretch participants so they can gain the confidence necessary for jobs in a competitive marketplace. It also allows students to explore how their callings and skills align.
Application Process
The early bird deadline is Friday, February 9, 2024.
The final deadline to apply is Friday, March 29, 2024.
The application includes a testimony and faith background section, an autobiographical sketch, and a writing exercise in the form of an obituary.
Applicants will receive a confirmation that their application has been received within five business days. Invitations to RSVP will be extended to selected candidates the week following the deadline. Applicants will also be notified of pre-course assignments and an equipment list.
Interested? Follow the link to APPLY NOW. Please contact office@worldji.com if you have any questions.
Required Reading
- Accepted students will be contacted directly for required reading and items to bring.
Curriculum:
The course includes instruction on how a Christian worldview informs journalism and practically the nuts and bolts of backpack journalism for convergent media. Instructors blend in-person, individual instruction and feedback with hands-on reporting experiences to teach students how to tell stories informed by a Biblical foundation in print, online, and on the air.
Students will improve their interviewing techniques and journalistic style, and gain training from professionals in photography, videography, and audio work. Class periods will include short lectures but emphasize discussion and analyzing/editing students' stories and practical field experience.
The intensive course includes pre-class assignments followed by two weeks of class residency.
During week one, students learn together, but in the second-week students are placed in a track—either feature writing, broadcast, or digital news— where students get even more intentional feedback from instructors and complete larger assignments. The two factors used to determine their track are their expressed preference and where instructors see their strengths.
Students should expect to work twelve hours a day—except on Sunday.
First day:
Arrivals and check-ins all-day
Dinner, Introductions, and Tour of Campus
Day One:
Reporting Workshop with Lee Pitts
Depart and Report
Writing Workshop: Editing
Midnight Deadline
Day Two:
Church
Activity
Movie Night
Day Three:
Introduction to WORLD Broadcast with The World and Everything In It hosts Nick Eicher and Myrna Brown
Lecture: Worldview Journalism and Newspaper Storytelling
Writing Workshop: Profiles
WORLD Broadcast: Stand-Ups Ups Prep and Exercise
News Huddle
Day Four:
Practice Press Conference and Debrief
Lecture: Worldview Journalism and Biblical Objectivity
Lunch with Guest Speaker
Lecture: Thinking About Stories and Journalistic Writing Style
Writing Workshop: Revising Obits
Workshop: Additional Video Editing and Camera Training
News Huddle
Week Two Sample Day:
Workshop: Script Writing and Editing
Reporting: Time to work on track assignment
Evening Activity
Instructors: *may include but are not limited to the following journalists
WORLD Editors and Reporters
Nick Eicher
WORLD Radio
Nick Eicher is executive producer of WORLD Radio. He has been a broadcast and print journalist for over three decades. He has served WORLD magazine as a writer and reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. He served as CEO of WORLD’s parent corporation, God’s World Publications, where he oversaw the publication of WORLD as well as the training program of the World Journalism Institute. In his spare time, Nick has taught editing and story structure for WJI. He has also served his duty in government and politics—as a press secretary to U.S. Rep. John W. “Jack” Buechner in Washington (1986-88) and then as press secretary for the Mark F. “Thor” Hearne congressional campaign (‘88). Eicher started broadcasting as a high-schooler (KYMC-FM, WCBW-FM, St. Louis), earned a news anchor position as a freshman (KCOU, Columbia) at the University of Missouri, became news director of KSIV-AM, St. Louis, while finishing his degree at Southern Illinois University and served as reporter at KMOX-AM, St. Louis, the summer after graduation.
Russell Pulliam
Indianapolis Star
Russ is the Associate Editor of The Indianapolis Star and Director of Pulliam Fellowship Program. In the past, he has been a reporter for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Springfield Union, The Indianapolis News, The Indianapolis Star, and the Associated Press. He is the author of Publisher: Gene Pulliam, Last of the Newspaper Titans and a WJI monograph collection of his columns. Pulliam has earned numerous journalistic awards and has his B.A. from Williams College.
Lee Pitts
Associate Dean, World Journalism Institute
As Washington Bureau Chief for WORLD magazine for more than five years, Lee's assignments sent him from Capitol Hill to the White House to the Supreme Court. But his reporting also has taken him beyond the Capital Beltway. Leading up to the 2010 elections, Lee embarked on a 10-day, 4,225 mile cross-country trip through competitive congressional districts in 16 states. In 2004-2005, as a reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Lee embedded with a National Guard Regimental Combat unit in Iraq for nearly 7 months, going on humanitarian and combat missions. Before joining WORLD, Lee served as press secretary for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander. Now in his fifteenth year in the media world, Lee earned a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and now leads the journalism program at Dordt University.
Mark Volkers
Dordt University
After serving for seven years as a missionary in an African village, Mark Volkers traveled the planet for a decade as a photojournalist and documentary filmmaker for Christian organizations. His films about the cultures, people and places of the world have earned him over 50 national and international awards. Mark continues to make films but now as a professor of digital media at Dordt University in Iowa. Students in the program are involved in storytelling in all corners of the globe, and have won numerous awards for their work.
Paul Butler
WORLD Radio
Paul is the executive producer and features editor for WORLD Radio as well as senior producer for the Effective Compassion and Legal Docket podcasts. He is a World Journalism Institute graduate, a Moody Radio alum, a pastor, and a former college professor. He resides with his family in Arlington, Ill.
Les Sillars
WORLD Magazine
Les is a WORLD Radio correspondent and commentator. He previously spent two decades as WORLD Magazine's Mailbag editor. Les directs the journalism program at Patrick Henry College and resides in Purcellville, Va., with his family.
What Have Other WJI Grads Said?
"If you’re considering applying to WJI, do it! It’s a fun, challenging, and invigorating experience, and will give you the tools and confidence you need to enter the world of journalism. Plus, you’ll make friends, learn from fantastic writing teachers, and get on-the-ground reporting experience...I learned that being introverted is no excuse to stay inside my comfort zone—you have to get out there and talk to people to write good stories. I learned the basic structure of a good article, concise writing, and the value of a Biblical worldview, which sees truth-telling as the goal of journalism and people as made in the image of God, worthy of our respect and attention."
"At WJI, I learned that I didn't just like to write. I loved being curious. I loved talking to all kinds of people with all kinds of experiences and telling their story--in all its nitty-gritty detail--in a compelling way. I learned that journalism is a tool to showcase God's world, both the brokenness caused by sin and the hope of redemption. Now I get paid to tell peoples' stories and explore how they point to God's bigger story. But even if that's not always the case, I don't ever want to stop."
"I valued the writing feedback and the push to practice journalism in the real world. It prepped me for the career I'm in now—the ability to ask good questions and write down the details."
“I think my life trajectory has changed because of this community. The collection of people that God has put together has so much potential, nay power, to do good in the world moving forward. Every day [of this course], I feel so honored and grateful to be amongst some of the world’s finest journalists, writers, editors, and technicians, to learn from them, to laugh with them, to live with them, even if only for two weeks. It may seem like I am exaggerating, but honestly, the blessing of having this sort of community is so beautiful.”
"I feel as though I am being trained to cherish the specific: the dirt beneath polished fingernails, the watch face worn on the inside of the wrist, recycled church pews being used for seating in a coffee shop, 'call this number for help tear away paper with missing slips. As a journalist – as a person – I am learning to interpret the significance of details. In a world that screams that nothing matters and that truth is simply a figure of speech signifying nothing (thanks to Dr. Olasky for that one), it is refreshing to learn from people who still believe in meaning."