Clarke Central Student Named "Victor" of Ga. Journalism Academy

By Joe Dennis

Athens resident Chad Rhym, a junior at Clarke Central High School, was chosen by his teacher and fellow students as the “victor” of the 2013 Georgia Journalism Academy, which was held June 9-15 by the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“I love being able to tell people’s stories through writing and photography,” said Rhym, who was enrolled in the camp’s photojournalism class. “It’s so nice to come to a camp where I can do what I love and meet new people who share my interests.”

The Georgia Journalism Academy is a weeklong, residential summer camp for high school journalists. Fifty-eight students from seven different states attended the project-oriented camp, themed “The Grady Games.” Students were enrolled in one of seven core classes—advertising, broadcasting, editorial writing, feature writing, news writing, photojournalism or sports writing —working to produce a TV news broadcast, news website, newspaper and advertising campaign. Students also had the opportunity to take seminars in public relations, Web design, newspaper design and staff leadership.

“The journalism academy is the best single source for attracting talent to this college,” said Grady College Dean E. Culpepper Clark. “It has been a great opportunity for us to engage students who are interested in our disciplines.”

Teachers of the core classes—comprised of Grady faculty, graduate students and alumni—nominated one student as their class “tribute,” essentially the top student in their class. From the seven tributes, academy students voted Rhym as the camp “victor.”

“Chad is the kind of student you hope for in class—a hard worker who is a joy to be around,” said Sue Myers Smith, photojournalism instructor for the camp. “He was engaged in the class from day one, and was interested in shooting a variety of subjects.”

Rhym, who will be sports editor of his school’s newsmagazine Odyssey, was one of seven “tributes” nominated. Classes, nominated students and their hometowns and schools are:
•    Broadcasting: Catherine Young of Lithonia, Arabia Mountain High School
•    Advertising: Rebecca Franks of Encino, Calif., Louisville High School
•    News Writing: Emily Jones of Acworth, North Cobb High School
•    Editorial Writing: Alexis Poggi of Lawrenceville, Mountain View High School
•    Feature Writing: Kacy Pollack of Acworth, Allatoona High School
•    Sports Writing: Sean Halsey of Snellville, Shiloh High School

Stories and photos by students are published on www.the13thdistrict.org, the news website produced by students. “The Grady Games Report,” the TV news show produced by broadcast students, and the ad campaign for Le Whif, developed by the advertising class, can also be viewed online.