By Noah Kim
J Camp live! staff

Back in New York, I never had a chance to really interact with people who had the same interests as I did. Even students who participated in the school paper weren’t serious about making Journalism into a potential career.

That was, until I went to J Camp.

The students of J-Camp were so different, yet so similar. We come from all over the country and with different backgrounds, but we all share an interest in journalism. It’s amusing how people from different ends of the nation can immediately bond with the same goals.

While J-Camp is a fun and great experience, that was complementary to learning new things. My main goal heading into J Camp was to improve my broadcast and design skills as college nears. The speakers and sessions have undoubtedly helped me amend my skills to a higher level.

One particular speaker, Paul Cheung, informed me about a topic I wasn’t very familiar of: graphic design. Cheung, considered one of the best in the field, showed us some of his works. The techniques and ideas he used made me realize how much of an impact graphic design can have on a paper. His illustrations for sports stories and gas prices were especially intriguing.

Before J Camp, I didn’t know very much about television broadcasting. However, T.V reporters and anchors Janet Wu and Joie Chen showed me a different side of broadcast journalism. They showed that any reporter has to be prepared for breaking news as it can happen anytime.

The most interesting aspect of broadcasting I learned was that both anchors didn’t seem to have any tensions against each other. I always thought of anchors as being extremely competitive with each another. I pictured in my head two anchors pushing and shoving for primary position in a story.

J Camp has definitely been challenging. We have to read The Boston Globe every morning and take a test. At times, I was very tired and couldn’t concentrate. It showed in the quizzes, as I probably got one of the lowest scores in J Camp’s nine year history. Even though I didn’t particularly like reading the newspaper every morning, it helped me realize that current events are important, and that there are actually some articles that are interesting.

I’m undoubtedly heading back to New York on a high note. I will sourly miss talking to fellow journalists, both student and professional.