Last October, a mix of eight master’s and undergraduate journalism students attended a week-long bootcamp in Washington, D.C., under the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). During the bootcamp, they were tasked with creating an extensive multimedia project about the Pacific Islands and the students' chosen topic of what the United States can do to better help the Islands in combatting climate change.
The students who participated in the bootcamp included Deesarine Ballayan, KLN ‘23, Hannah Devanny, KLN ‘24, Olivia-Anne Eisner, KLN ‘24, Jadon George, Chase Gilroy, Sebastiana Lopez, KLN ‘24, Chelsea Lubbe and Chris Shaddock.
The CSIS Journalism Bootcamp selects five schools a year to bring a select group of students to Washington. The students complete workshops and interviews, presenting their findings in a multimedia project at the conclusion of the week.
Assistant Professor of Journalism Tara Pixley, selected the team that would being attending the camp. Originally, Pixley wanted to send all of the Klein College of Media and Communication master of journalism students; however, some could not attend due to prior commitments. As an alternative, she selected some undergraduate students, including senior Jadon George.
George learned of the bootcamp camp through his class, Journalism Innovation and Design, taught by Professor Nisha Sridharan. Looking back, George found the beauty in the eight-plus hour days of working on the project.
“I know I’m not the only person who had this experience," said George. “I think we had a sharper sense of ourselves as journalists. We had a clearer picture of what we were capable of, having turned in a project that gargantuan in a space of a week.”
The students were grouped into four teams: story and web, audio, video and data. The students used policy analysis, data visualization and media production to explore the challenges Pacific Islanders face when combatting climate change using text, audio and video. Additionally, the group created a podcast, a short documentary film and a written article.
Master of journalism student Deesarine Ballayan, was a part of the Story and Web Design team. She discovered the Islands may not exist in the upcoming years and the urgency of helping the countries' needs in order to keep people in their homes.
“I think that [in the United States] climate change is something that is coming, but for the Pacific Islanders, it’s tomorrow,” said Ballayan. “When I came home, it was really scary to talk about the possibly of the Islands not existing if we keep going the way we are going in the next two to four years.”
The multimedia project was officially launched on November 22, 2024.
Pixley witnessed the students apply what they learned in the classroom to the project. CSIS allowed the students to explore the realm of international journalism, interview influential ambassadors and engage with experts in fields they do not typically have access to.
“The bootcamp was an excellent example of what we want our students to have access to and what we will push forward for them to be able to engage with while they are at Klein,” said Pixley.