By Jeffrey Lee

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I slowly rose out of bed, my eyes glancing at the alarm clock: 3:30 a.m. There was no way I would wake up this early any other day. But July 27, 2007, was different. I had a 6 a.m. flight to Miami to catch. J Camp 2007, which took place from July 27 to Aug. 1 at the University of Miami, was just beginning.

Upon arriving at the campus, I was shocked to see the diversity of 42 of the top high school journalists in the country. Not only did they specialize in different aspects of journalism — including photography, broadcast, online and print (my specialty) — but they also came from a multitude of places, ranging from big cities like Honolulu and Miami itself to smaller ones like North Platte, Neb., and Cerritos, Calif., where I am now a senior at Whitney High School.

A large part of the program consisted of the 14 guest speakers who came to enlighten us. Indeed, one of J Camp’

s strongest assets is the magnitude of the speakers. One such presenter was a middle-aged man who asserted that the chicken dance was related to writing. No, this is not a joke.

Jeffrey Lee

He is Roy Peter Clark, vice president of the renowned Poynter Institute and author of “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer”

(which we were assigned to read beforehand). The levity incorporated throughout his talk astounded me; it became not a lecture but a conversation, as he even used contemporary examples to which the audience could relate, like Harry Potter.

Other presenters included anchors from such networks as CBS, ABC and CNN News, as well as editors from the Miami Herald and writers from the Wall Street Journal.

Perhaps the most beneficial part of the program was the J Camp All-Star Reception on the last day. In addition to the speakers, those in attendance included editors and writers from major publications from around the country. J Camp gave me the opportunity to network with individuals from the San Diego Union Tribune, the Detroit Free Press and People magazine (to name just a few), an opportunity that would not be possible for the typical teenager.

These opportunities were made possible because of J Camp’

s directors and faculty, who were distinguished journalists themselves. The directors of J Camp 2007 were Neal Justin, chief TV critic for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Clea Benson, a senior writer at CQ Weekly. They were instrumental in providing us with speakers and esteemed journalists to learn from and network with and in organizing breakout sessions and field trips to the Miami Herald and local television stations.

In the breakout sessions, members of the faculty were assigned to lead groups of students, and we would apply what we learned from the speakers.

My breakout leader was Mark Angeles, the Union County bureau chief for the Newark Star-Ledger in New Jersey. Angeles had us write not only with our hands but also with our feet, as our group walked 1.5 miles down to the Coconut Grove neighborhood to do investigative reporting.

J Camp has been influential to my journalistic aspirations and my future career. This career track lacks a balanced representation of our society, which may be intimidating for prospective minority journalists. But learning about the successes of fellow minorities in the media today has inspired me to pursue college journalism, to aspire to be like the speakers, directors and faculty of J Camp 2007. The program enabled me to meet successful journalists as well as 41 talented teenagers.

Many of us came in with the perception that the other teenagers would essentially lead lives devoted to journalism. This is not entirely true; while all of us possessed numerous journalistic achievements, everyone was enjoyable and entertaining. There was closeness among the journalists; though we were from different places and cultures, we bonded quickly, eagerly wanting to know more about one another and the different experiences we had.

On Aug. 1, our airport shuttle would leave early in the morning, so on our last night together, many of us stayed awake until the shuttle came, choosing to spend the last five hours we had as a group to bond, not to sleep.

At the airport that morning, I waited at a terminal that had a flight bound for Texas instead of Los Angeles. We were all gathered there, exchanging contact information and swapping teary-eyed goodbyes.

tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘post_tag’) AND tr.object_id IN (23) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_tags, get_the_terms, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND tr.object_id IN (24) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_category, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘post_tag’) AND tr.object_id IN (24) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_tags, get_the_terms, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND tr.object_id IN (16) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_category, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘post_tag’) AND tr.object_id IN (16) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_tags, get_the_terms, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND tr.object_id IN (18) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_category, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘post_tag’) AND tr.object_id IN (18) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_tags, get_the_terms, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND tr.object_id IN (25) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_category, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘post_tag’) AND tr.object_id IN (25) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_tags, get_the_terms, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database error Table ‘tr’ is marked as crashed and should be repaired for query SELECT t.*, tt.* FROM wp_terms AS t INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy AS tt ON tt.term_id = t.term_id INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships AS tr ON tr.term_taxonomy_id = tt.term_taxonomy_id WHERE tt.taxonomy IN (‘category’) AND tr.object_id IN (27) ORDER BY t.name ASC made by export_wp, wxr_post_taxonomy, get_the_category, wp_get_object_terms
WordPress database
Our minds told us that we would probably never see one another again. But inside, we knew this would not be the end for this group of 42 teens. Our hearts told us that no matter what it took, we would cross paths later, whether in reuniting or in just seeing other J Campers on the news for their achievements.

After nearly an hour, I reluctantly left the terminal to board my flight, feeling as if I had just arrived in Miami a day earlier. I came to Miami and met 41 aspiring high school journalists. I left Miami with 41 new friends.

I came not knowing whether I should pursue college journalism. I left knowing that I will.