Journalism Day: uniting all media groups

Ray Luna guides Andres Luzania on camera exposure to achieve the best photo. Photo credit Salma Valle

Salma Valle, Staff Writer
May 18, 2023

Bulldog Media Group (BNN, Insight, Yearbook) hosted its first ever Journalism Day this Monday by gathering all media groups together. The purpose of journalism day was to teach incoming media group members journalism of all kinds.

Sophomore Sophea Rios shared her takeaways of the event and the important contributions it brings on campus.

¨This helps us interact with other media groups as a whole and get feedback from what they are doing by making new connections,¨ said Rios.

Guest Speaker Gaby Doyle presents examples of the beat system and how it can improve WCHS publications. Photo credit: Katie Castillo

Day one of this event included president of SCJEA (Southern California Journalism Education Association) Gaby Doyle presenting the importances of journalism in all publications. Ray Luna shared his experience with camera training in preparation for next school year. 

Kassandra Aguirre captured an action shot of Aldo Garibay jumping through a track hurdle earning 1st place. Photo credit: Kassandra Aguirre

Doyle shared the importance of credibility and storytelling of journalism in today’s generation. By emphasizing fact checking sources, Doyle provided a series of personal stories when finding credibility and introduced the beat system of writing. The purpose for the beat system is to write towards that genre, which included a crime beat and education beat. 

All media groups participated in Luna’s photo contest where he shared important tips to capture photos with emotions and exposure triangles. Luna introduced the rule of thirds of how it is used for photography with angles and camera quality.

Earning 1st place was Kassandra Aguirre, who captured an action shot of Aldo Garibay jumping through a track hurdle. Luna was impressed by Aguirre ‘s photo quality. In 2nd place, Violet Vasquez-Rio’s photo displayed the emotions of students when working together. Lastly, 3rd place was Raylene Guadron, who captured an action shot of a student throwing a football.

Drew Lorenger, adviser of BNN expressed how impactful Journalism Day meant for West Covina High School.

¨My number one goal was to get all the journalists on campus together because we have three different programs. I thought it was very powerful for us to all be in one room to see each other to work on the vision of telling the West Covina story together,¨ said Lorenger.