Mississippi high school students will hone their mass communication skills at the 2014 Fall Journalism Training Workshop hosted Sept. 30 by The University of Southern Mississippi’s School of Mass Communication and Journalism.

Students will rotate through four sessions that will discuss various topics such as Photoshop, InDesign, news writing, interviewing and more.

Several USM faculty will lead sessions pertaining to areas in the mass communication field.

Dave Davies, interim director of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, will lead a session on publication writing.

“We are hoping that they will sharpen their skills so they can go back and write better at their individual high schools next week,” Davies said. 

He said 150 high school students attended the workshop in 2013.  Davies said he believes that part of a university’s job is to reach out to the public to offer programs that support public schools and this program is a good way for USM to support high school students. 

“It helps them and gives us a chance to demonstrate what we and our faulty can do,” he said.

One of the workshop leaders, Olivia Ann Hurst, is the social media specialist at the Office of University Communications. She will address the rise of social media.

“It is important to remember that your social media presence is your online resume,” Hurst said. “You can leverage social tools to brand yourself as an authority in your chosen field.” 

She also said students should behave on social media as they would face-to-face with someone. 

The day will begin at 8 a.m. with a light continental breakfast on the lawn behind the Lucas Administration Building, followed by a Golden Eagle welcome by President Rodney Bennett and a keynote address from Ashton Pittman, founder and editor of Deep South Daily.

After dismissal from the assembly, the workshops will begin in College Hall. The day will wrap up after the fourth session at around 2:45 p.m.