What’s an exciting job? Racecar driver? Doctor? Paramedic? How about being a Journalist? You may think that’s boring, but it’s not as some students from Lincoln High School found out.  Nine future  journalist students and four others, found themselves thrusted into the exciting world of journalism over the summer. These students were taken to Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU), and allowed to live in the dorms for three days and work with the best of the best in the field of journalism.

This opened up a world of new opportunities for the young students. Some had more experience than others like the two students I met from Westview High School, Andra Kovacs and Anna Buckley, who were already a part of their schools paper. Andra is one of the senior writers on the paper, while Anna is a senior photographer. It was a new experience for everyone living in the dorms and eating in the cafeteria. “It was cool getting the opportunity to stay the night at PLNU because we got to have a glimpse of what it's like to live in the dorms. Even though there was no one else there, we didn't get the full experience. We did get to eat in the cafeteria and sleep in the bunk beds and get a little taste of what's to come for us in college,” said Kovacs.

This wasn’t a learning experience for only students. Another person who learned was Lincoln High’s online news service advisor of the Voices of Lincoln, Mr. Camacho. He was the one that was contacted by the staff from the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) and jumped at the chance to send several lucky students. “I was so impressed with work they did in such a short amount of time.  I was proud of their stories and work ethic,” said Camacho as he looked over the work they had done.

For more information about J-Lab, go to http://www.nabj.org/?page=conventionnews