Feeling as we do about the importance of local journalism, we wanted to let everyone know about this upcoming opportunity at Mercer County Community College. According to Holly Johnson, professor of communications and journalism at MCCC, the first run of the College’s Community Journalism certificate program (“J Lab”) will start on January 25. The goal is to provide residents of Mercer County who want to cover issues of concern to their community the basic newswriting and reporting skills necessary to do so.
Here at MercerMe, we love this because we know many of you have stories to tell but are shy about writing them down. We encourage community members to let us know what is going on in your neighborhood, send in reports of the kids’ soccer games, and delve into “things that make you go hmmm,” anywhere in the Valley. Anyone who is interested in doing that should send us an email to [email protected].
The MCCC program will take place on six Thursday evenings from 6:30-8pm in the MCCC Conference Center on the West Windsor campus (one night will be remote via Zoom). The program is free and all materials are provided. Professor Johnson will lead the sessions and will have guest presentations from writers and editors from several community publications and national media outlets. Participants will have the opportunity to have their final projects considered for publication in The VOICE , MCCC’s newspaper. Here is a link for registration.
The college also has plans in the works to run a teen version of the J Lab, aimed at local high school students, starting on April 4.
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