Just for commuters … information and daily schedule

Posted on June 8, 2013 by

Dear NBTB 2013 commuter campers and families,

We’re looking forward to meeting you in just a few weeks! Here is some information to help you prepare for your Newsroom by the Bay experience this summer.

TEAM LEADERS: First, we’d like to introduce you to Maytal Mark and Adrienne von Schulthess, the two team leaders who will be dedicated exclusively to our commuting campers. Maytal and Adrienne, whose bios you can read here, will be the first people you’ll check in with each morning, and the last ones you check out with each day. Maytal and Adrienne will be contacting you soon — please make sure you respond and keep their emails handy.

Here are where our South Bay students live. Campers will receive a roster with commuter family emails and phone numbers at Sunday orientation on 6/23.

Most of our commuters are from the South Bay. Here is where they live. We also have a few campers coming from San Francisco and the East Bay. Campers will receive a roster with commuter family phone numbers at orientation on Sunday, June 23.

CARPOOLS: We recognize that many families will be interested in coordinating carpools. The maps at right shows the general locations of most of our commuting families. Maytal and Adrienne will meet with students after our orientation at 3 p.m. on Sunday to help coordinate carpools for the week ahead.

PARKING: Daily and weekly parking passes ($4.50 and $25) are available from the camp office. We accept cash or checks. Parking will NOT be enforced on Sunday, June 23 when you arrive for orientation or Sunday, June 30 if you come to say goodbye to residential students as our program ends. Parking WILL be enforced Monday through Saturday of our program week.

IPADS: We’ll be handing you a fully loaded iPad2 that will be yours for the week while you’re at camp. You are required to turn in your iPad to your team leader at the end of each day before you leave for the day or evening. We’ll store it overnight, and you will pick up your iPad the next day between 7:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. You will want to do this before the morning chalk talk begins, at 7:45 a.m.

HOMEWORK: Good news — there isn’t any. However, your residential peers likely will be working on their reporting projects late into the evening. Whether you choose to do so after you depart each day is up to you. Obviously, you’ll have more to show off at the end of the week if you put in extra hours, but we also realize that this is an 8 a.m.-to-5 p.m. experience for you, so there is no expectation of nighttime work. We do suggest that you leave a little room in your schedules at home in case you get inspired!

SUNDAY 6/23 ORIENTATION: Orientation begins at 3 p.m. in the Adelfa Hall common room in Lagunitas Court at 326 Santa Teresa St., on the Stanford campus. Parking is available at nearby Tresidder Student Union or in the lots adjacent to Lagunitas. (Be mindful that Stanford is a big place, and it’s hard to find your way around the first time you visit. But the good news is that there is no parking enforcement on Sundays.)

After general orientation, you’ll have a one-hour team meeting with your team leader. Dinner is at 5:30 p.m. and as a commuter student you are welcome to join us at no charge. After dinner, teams will be working on setting up group sharing and social media accounts on your iPads, and on planning what your reporting focus and field trip will be for the week. We encourage you to stay for dinner and for planning time on Sunday. You can plan to be on your way by 8 p.m. To better facilitate team communication, we’ll be sending you instructions for setting up a special Gmail account in the next few days; for your own convenience, we encourage you to set up these accounts before camp begins.

WEEKDAY MORNING DROP-OFF: Our morning chalk talk at the Adelfa common room is at 7:45 a.m., and this is where you will have an opportunity to choose reporting opportunities for the afternoon and get other news of the day. Students depart for classes at 8 a.m. (our classrooms are a short walk from our dorm) and classes begin promptly at 8:15 a.m.

WEEKDAY EVENING PICK-UP: As of 4 p.m., after a long day of classes and reporting, we switch into rest and relaxation mode, with Team Leader Hailey Waller and her crew leading groups to swimming, volleyball, a walk around Lake Lagunita, a trip to get an ice cream at Tressider Student Union or just lounging around in Adelfa. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m.

This is when many commuters choose to leave, but on some evenings you may choose to stay longer to collaborate with team members or to attend our Evening Speaker Series, which begins at 7 p.m. each evening and includes:

• Monday: 2013 Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson on Journalism and Literary Fiction

• Tuesday: (1) Drone Journalism at Palo Alto High School and (2) Scott Landis on Social Media

• Wednesday: Michelle Quinn of Politico.com on politics and technology

• Thursday: Eric Burse on Building a Personal Brand

• Friday: Nick Ferentinos on 25 years of student free speech, after the Supreme Court’s Hazelwood decision

FIELD TRIP DAYS: The only exception to the weekly morning drop-off/pick-up is field trip day on Wednesday, June 26 (Year 1) and Tuesday/Thursday, June 25 and 27 (Year 2). On those days, you’ll be asked to meet up with your team for an 8 a.m. departure from campus to the CalTrain station in downtown Palo Alto. Field trips return at 5:30 p.m.

WEEKDAY BREAKFAST: Not included in your program fee, but meal tickets can be purchased for $9.55.

WEEKDAY LUNCH: Included in your program fee. You will receive a boxed lunch on your field trip day; otherwise, meals are at the Lagunitas Dining Hall.

WEEKDAY DINNER: Not included in your program fee, but meal tickets may be purchased for $16.60 apiece. There are many dining options near our dorm and you may choose to go out for dinner with your fellow commuters (many students do and it can be cheaper).

SATURDAY DROP-OFF AND PICK-UP: Saturday includes more flexibility than the previous days, with no morning classes. Year 1 students will be working together to polish their websites and reporting projects, while our Year 2 students will be pitching their stories in our “Editor Speed Dating” event. Our evening Multimedia Showcase is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and marks the final, celebratory event of our week together, capped by fireworks at 9:30 p.m. over Stanford Stadium.

SUNDAY: Sunday is all about check-outs and departures for our residential students. Commuters are welcome to come and bid their new friends farewell, but there is no formal camp activity on Sunday and all of our students and staff must leave campus by 11 a.m. under Stanford rules.

A final note: NBTB is an unusual camp in that reporting opportunities can arise throughout the week. For instance, we may be able to get unexpected seats to a Friday night performance of the Stanford Jazz Workshop; also, we’re working with the San Jose Earthquakes to arrange a handful of tickets for Saturday night’s soccer game at Stanford Stadium. The more flexible you can be about pick-up times the more likely you are to be able to participate in some of these activities.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all and to working with students and families to make sure that your Newsroom by the Bay week is one you’ll never forget. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions.

See you soon!

Paul and Beatrice

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Summer 2013 Guest Speakers Announced — Pulitzer Prize Winner Adam Johnson To Appear at NBTB

Posted on May 18, 2013 by

This year’s list for Newsroom by the Bay’s evening speaker series is out, and it’s a stellar lineup, including a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, an iPad publishing pioneer, a technology reporter for Politico.com, a standout student journalist, and an award-winning journalism adviser who was behind some of the very first student reporting about AIDS.

AdamAdam Johnson, a Stanford creative writing professor who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize in fiction for his novel, The Orphan Master’s Son, will kick off the series on Monday, June 24. Johnson, who graduated with a B.A. from the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, is a Whiting Writers’ Award winner, the author of Emporium, a short story collection, and the novel, Parasites Like Us. His books have been translated into 23 languages, and he was a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. His work has appeared in Esquire, Harper’s, Playboy, GQ, Paris Review, Granta, Tin House, The New York Times and Best American Short Stories. 

The heartbreaking story of Jun Do, a North Korean citizen who becomes a government kidnapper and then tries to navigate his way — both literally and figuratively — through the repressive regime of the Hermit Kingdom, The Orphan Master’s Son began in reportage. During a 2007 visit to North Korea, Johnson witnessed starving citizens trying to pick chestnuts in a park (a forbidden act) and truckloads of “volunteers” being taken to fields for harvest work. From those journalistic beginnings, the novel takes a huge imaginative leap into literary fiction, in an effort to tell the many stories of a country that Johnson, in an interview with the PBS NewsHour, described as a literary monoculture.

“In North Korea, there is only one story and everyone is a secondary character,” Johnson said. “You have to censor yourself.”

On Tuesday, June 25, Scott Landis, a Newsroom by the Bay faculty member and former University of Oregon student editor who was the driving force behind OR, one of the first-ever iPad magazines, will speak on social media.  One of the sharpest tools in a journalist’s backpack, social media can also be a double-edged sword. Scott will be speaking on how different social media platforms can be used to help build stories, verify facts and build connections, as well as the responsible use of these powerful tools.

How technology and politics come together — and sometimes collide — will be the subject of a talk by Michelle Quinn, a technology reporter for Politico.com, on Wednesday, June 26. Michelle has worked at the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle. Most recently, she wrote a general news blog for The New York Times and worked as a media adviser to Jerry Brown in his capacity as attorney general. 

Eric Burse, the National Association of Black Journalists’ Student Journalist of the Year, will speak Thursday, June 27 about a subject he’s taken to heart — how to create your own personal brand, including the do’s and don’ts of shaping your own digital footprint. A graduate-to-be of the Annenberg School of Journalism & Communication at the University of Southern California, Eric has contributed to a number of campus publications and also works as an intern for “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.” He is a popular speaker and appeared recently at the National Scholastic Press Association/Journalism Education Association Spring National High School Journalism convention in San Francisco. You can see Eric’s personal brand at work on his website.

Our final speaker, on Friday, June 28, is Nick Ferentinos, a veteran, award-winning adviser, whose students made their own headlines when their plans to publish a profile of a student who was HIV-positive were nearly dashed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, which gave school administrators broad powers to censor student publications. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the decision.

The story of how the students of Cupertino, Calif.’s Homestead High School prevailed — and ultimately published their story — is a fascinating moment in student journalism. Nick’s presentation will include a panel of former students as well as reporters involved in the case, and they’ll  talk about how a little-known California law made it possible at the last minute for Nick’s students to exercise their First Amendment rights.

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Monday’s the day to pay for NBTB 2013 — please note April 1 deadline!

Posted on March 30, 2013 by

Thanks to all of our accepted students who have already paid their summer 2013 program fees! And here’s a gentle reminder to those who haven’t done so yet that the deadline is Monday, April 1. Payment is easy using our PayPal buttons on our Payment page. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com if you have any questions.

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It’s not too late to apply for NBTB 2013

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

Thinking about applying to our Summer 2013 digital journalism program? Good news — it’s not too late!

Yes, our April 1 payment deadline is next weekend, but we will extend that payment deadline for any application already in process as of April 1.  That’s right — fill out your application this week and send it to us by next Monday, and we may be able to give you flexibility in getting in your recommendation and payment.

Also, although we only have a few residential spaces left for this summer’s camp,  we anticipate that we may get a few more beds from Stanford in the coming weeks. Now is a good time to reserve your space.

So, what are you waiting for? If your dream is to have fun in the sun this summer and sharpen your journalism skills for next fall, it’s not too late!

Your journey starts with our application page. Looking forward to hearing from you!

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Heading to NBTB this summer? Check out our FAQs for information!

Posted on March 23, 2013 by

If you’re heading to Newsroom by the Bay this summer, check out our new Summer 2013 Frequently Asked Questions page on our website for information and details on your Stanford stay. Check-In/Out times, the location of our dorm this summer, parking information and a packing list are all there. If you don’t find the answer you need, please email us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com and we’ll gladly answer your questions. Go, Sharkies!

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Who you are: NBTB’s accepted students so far a talented, diverse, multicultural group

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

One of the nicest things about running Newsroom by the Bay is getting applications from all over the world, by students who are not only talented writers, but often remarkably insightful about life, writing, politics, and the future of journalism itself.

It’s also amazing to see applications this year from all over the world — Pakistan, China, South Korea and the Netherlands — as well as 16 states, from New York to California and South Dakota to North Carolina. 

While we want to respect your privacy, if you are an accepted student, we can tell you that your fellow acceptees include:

  • writers working on cross-cultural websites connecting the U.S., Mongolia and Malaysia;
  • actors, cello players, singers, and dancers of ballet and kathak, a classical Indian form;
  • teens who swim, cheerlead, and play rugby, softball, baseball, soccer, tennis and basketball (and the list goes on);
  • passionate readers of The New York Times, the short stories of Anton Chekhov, and “descriptive adjectives, exciting verbs, and salient visuals”;
  • talented journalists who want to learn more about writing — editors-in-chief, morning broadcasters, webmasters and page designers;
  • talented writers who have never taken a single journalism class, but can’t wait to begin with us.

We’re also inspired by the essays you’ve sent us. With her permission, here is one we received recently from Isabel Ullman, of Notre Dame High School in San Jose, Calif.:

” ‘No puedo alimentar a mis hijos con amor: I cannot feed my children on love.’ In an intimate discussion with my Spanish class, ‘Maria,’ a day worker, spoke with candor, transforming my image of immigrants. She told us how she had come to the U.S., desperate for economic sustainability, but in the process had to leave her children behind. She sighed as she admitted the difficulty with which she scrambles for jobs. When her arms would rather be around her children, they are busy wiping counters and vacuuming floors. But the hourly rate here, 10 times what she would make back home,  allows her to feed her children.  

“Suddenly I saw ‘Maria’ not as a generic illegal immigrant, but as a human with a pressing problem.  Each person, no matter their circumstances, has a story. Some stories are constantly bubbling up and overflowing from peoples’ lips. But many stories, like Maria’s, are suppressed, hidden in little crevices in the heart. It is these stories that need to be told, to wake society up to the humans behind the political issues.  I see journalism as a catalyst for change.”

Camp is still four months away, but we can’t wait to meet Izzy and all of our accepted students. Congratulations to all!

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Please pay now to reserve your space at NBTB 2013

Posted on March 4, 2013 by

Hello prospective NBTB’ers!

It’s only March, but we’re happy to say that applications for NBTB 2013 are running well ahead of last year. We’re rapidly filling spaces for our residential program, for which we typically take 40 students.

For this reason, at this time we are reaching out to all accepted students who intend to be residential campers with a request that you pay as soon as possible in order to reserve your space. Though we have a payment deadline of April 1, we fill spaces as payments arrive, so the best way to make sure you are on the list is to send a check or PayPal payment. Instructions on how to pay can be found right here.

After April 1, we will immediately offer spaces to the students on our waiting list.

We do still have plenty of space for commuters. If you would like this option, please contact us at newsroombythebay@gmail.com or click on “Apply” above and fill out an application. Thanks!

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