Students from Dunkirk and Southwestern high schools participated in the event, which was co-sponsored by JCC, the Chautauqua Health Network and the CHQ Healthy Youth & Schools Program. The workshop engaged students across multiple disciplines, from print journalism and broadcast media to media law and ethics.

Participants spent the weeks leading up to the event researching and writing original articles on health or science topics. On the day of the workshop, Johnny Stein, JCC associate professor of English, guided students through the ethical use of artificial intelligence in the research and writing process, while Jennifer Reeher, assistant professor of English, led a writing workshop focused on refining and strengthening their articles.

Students also adapted their written work into short-form video scripts and brought those scripts to life in the JCC television studio. They rotated through roles on set, behind the cameras, and in the control room under the guidance of Simone Sellstrom, assistant professor of Communications, and instructor Ed Tomassini.

During lunch, Elizabeth Hosier, director of programs at the Robert H. Jackson Center, delivered a presentation on the First Amendment and its significance to journalism and a free press.

Pictured are the media professionals who participated in the panel discussion during the Health & Science Journalism Workshop.

The afternoon featured a panel discussion with media professionals who offered students an inside look at careers in communications and journalism.

Panelists included Gregory Bacon of the Post-Journal and OBSERVER; Justin Gould, media information officer for Chautauqua County; Deb Maggio of the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene; Cynthia McKane, JCC reference librarian; Adam Snow, news content director at Erie News Now; Dennis Webster, retired Jamestown radio broadcaster; and Hosier.

At the conclusion of the event, three students were recognized with the Samuel Hopkins Adams Excellence in Journalism Award for the quality of their health and science articles. Ethan Lohnes, of Southwestern, earned first place honors, while Dunkirk’s Suhliana Costa and Yahir Robles placed second and third.

Two community members were also honored with the Louis Charles Adler Commitment to Journalistic Excellence Award for their ongoing work promoting health and wellness topics in Chautauqua County: Sherri Rater, administrative and communications coordinator for the Chautauqua County Health Department, and Webster.

The Samuel Hopkins Adams award honors the Dunkirk native who was known for exposing public health injustice through thorough investigative journalism. In a series of 11 articles printed in Collier’s magazine, Adams reported that some patent medicines were damaging the health of people using them. The series, called “The Great American Fraud,” led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

High school students are pictured in the TV Studio at JCC during the Health & Science Journalism Workshop.

The Louis Charles Adler award honors the Jamestown area native and radio journalist who served as a longtime morning news anchor for WCBS in New York and is credited with popularizing the “talk news radio” format. Before his death in 2017, Adler was also the director of Quinnipiac University’s Ed McMahon Mass Communication Center.

During Webster’s acceptance speech, he revealed that he worked with Adler in the past and continued to communicate with him after his move to New York City. “I knew Lou Adler and had great respect for him and what he created at all-news WCBS. It is a great honor to be given an award that bears his name,” he said.