Student Media hosts “J-Day” at Talley

NC State Student Media welcomed 226 student media students and their advisors from high schools across central North Carolina for the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association’s Central Carolina “J-Day” over fall break.

The event, held Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Talley Student Union, featured workshops geared specifically for high school journalists, yearbook staffers, podcasters and photographers.

NC State Student Media was well-represented at the event by both current students and alumni of the program.

WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 podcast hosts Abdullah Najjar, a graduate student in international studies, and Emilia Rivadeneira, a senior majoring in political science and communication, were part of the event’s opening panel that focused on election coverage. Rivadeneira is also a staff writer for The Nubian Message.

Cooper Elias, who led all of the event’s yearbook sessions, is a former Agromeck editor-in-chief and the former digital and social marketing manager for the Carolina Hurricanes. He now serves as vice president of marketing for O2 Fitness Clubs.

Tyler Dukes, the lead editor for AI innovation in journalism at the McClatchy media company, gave the event’s closing remarks, which focused on the promise and the peril of using artificial intelligence in newsgathering. Dukes is a former Technician editor-in-chief and a longtime member of NC State Student Media’s board of directors.

Other instructors included seven journalists from the News & Observer, three podcasters from WUNC and a journalism professor from UNC-Chapel Hill. In addition to the workshops, attendees also had an opportunity to tour Student Media’s offices at Witherspoon Student Center.

Student Media co-sponsored the event with the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association and Raleigh’s News & Observer. While the NCSMA has held the event for many years, this is the first time NC State has served as the host school for it.