Fox61, Communication Department Hosted 100+ High School Students

The University’s Department of Communication, Film, and Media Studies (CFMS) recently collaborated with Fox61 to host its annual Media Day for high school students who are interested in joining the University as undergraduates in the fall.

Media Day is an exciting event during which Fox61 and the CFMS Department engage students with multiple activities and exciting professional opportunities. Those interested in video journalism benefit greatly from this workshop, as the Fox61 team presents a creative series that includes constructive feedback on how to film an effective video. The team also delves into how to write the script and the most attractive ways to present it.

This spring, Liz Salvatore, community marketing manager for Fox61, and Freddie Matthis, assistant chief photographer, visited the University to interact with a large group of high school students from varying schools around Connecticut, presenting an insightful workshop in the Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation.

“As a team at Fox61, we are always open to meeting new students and enjoy visiting schools and going to career fairs, especially to recruit for entry-level positions,” she said. “My experience at the Media Day workshop was truly amazing, and I was so happy to see so many students involved in this workshop. I understand that the students were a little hesitant to intake our feedback at the beginning of the workshop, but I was happy to see them getting comfortable when they started asking us one-on-one questions. We love visiting the University of New Haven.”

The event was managed and conceptualized by Prof. Natalie Chavoya, a practitioner-in-residence in the CFMS Department. She welcomed students from six different schools, more than 100 students, in total, to give them a tour of what their potential journalism education might look like. Students enjoyed the tour of the newsroom and the TV studio and were given an opportunity to use the equipment in the studio, take pictures, and learn about the latest technology involved.

Prof. Chavoya was ecstatic to see the response from the high-school students and teachers who accompanied them.

“This was our 3rd annual Media Day event, and we had the highest attendance ever,” she said. “Media Day is a follow-up workshop to the Fox61 Student News Teacher’s Workshop in the fall. It was a wonderful experience to see so many visiting high school students interested in media, journalism, and video production. We were especially happy to engage with the students interested in joining us in the coming months! This workshop indeed made a great recruitment event for us.”

Students received feedback from the Fox61 team and were also eager to engage one-on-one with the professionals in the industry. The workshop covered many areas on how to produce the best ads and short films, film the best angles, and make the most out of a story. Students were thrilled to learn all about video production from the Fox61 producers and were extremely eager to participate in the Fox61 competitions.

Salvatore said these trainings are highly useful for the students. She was glad to be a part of the event and enjoyed interacting with the attendees.

“Programs like these are great for the students as they get an opportunity to engage in face-to-face interactions with us and get feedback on their stories,” she said. “We encourage them to participate in our Fox61 competition, which offers students several incentives to win. Upon providing feedback on their work, we motivate them to submit it to our competition as it is a great exposure to the industry and careers they plan to pursue.”

Anchal Bhatia ’24 MBA is a candidate in the University’s MBA program.