PRINCETON, N.J. — Last month the Dow Jones News Fund asked high school student journalists to nominate their #JournalismHero in an Instagram photo caption contest during Constitution Week. We asked students to celebrate a teacher who supports students press freedoms.
The winner is Zekriah Chaudhry, a senior at Minneapolis (Minnesota) South High School, who praised Miles Trump, his teacher at ThreeSixty Journalism.
ThreeSixty Journalism is a year-round journalism program at the University of St. Thomas that uses the principles of strong writing and reporting to help diverse Minnesota youth tell the stories of their lives and communities.
Students are taught the basics of news reporting and writing, the art of the interview and storytelling techniques. The program exposes teens to broadcast and radio journalism and they produce three magazines during the course of the year.
Zekriah says, “This program takes youth journalism to a professional level.”
Asked why he nominated Trump, Zekriah says, “A lot of teachers just give you the facts and leave you to decipher it. Miles brings us out to the real world, and through these experiences, he is able to teach us the things we want to write about.
Zekriah points to his story about basketball coach Larry McKenzie as one of these unique experiences ThreeSixty provides.
As a #JournalismHero, Trump will receive a one-year digital subscription to WSJ.com to use in the classroom.
“I’m honored to be named a #JournalismHero,” Trump said. “I’m also honored to help guide an incredible group of diverse young storytellers at ThreeSixty Journalism. These high school students are our future leaders, and I’m grateful I get to play a role in their development.”
Do you want to win a digital subscription to WSJ.com? We will be launching a new contest in November. Sign up for the Dow Jones News Fund email list to be notified when the contest starts.