High school students, from the Grand Forks and surrounding communities shared their stories with the skills they developed from the Digital Storytelling Summit, an event that teaches North Dakota’s high-school students digital and news literacy, on Communication Appreciation Day, Apr. 24, at the Memorial Union.
After receiving a grant from the North Dakota Newspaper Association Education Foundation and contributions from the University of North Dakota’s College of Arts & Sciences and Department of Communication, Joonghwa Lee, an associate professor for the Department of Communication at UND, thought of hosting this summit after hearing his students had little opportunity to tell stories in digital medium.
“The role of this event is to educate high school students to understand the importance of communication,” Lee said. “We believe that whatever major they end up choosing, being able to communicate, especially on social media, is such an important skill these days.”
This past summer, between June 3 and June 7, the Digital Storytelling Summit invited 50 high school students, free of charge, to develop interviewing, news writing, video editing, and media literacy skills from UND’s faculty, local journalists, and communication professionals to share the stories of their communities.
“It’s been fun to see how shy they were on the first day and how much their personalities have shined throughout the week,” Emily Gibbens-Buteau, an assistant professor for the Department of Communication at UND, said. “They’ve all been extremely successful in all their projects and have been working with the clients so well.”
On Communication Appreciation Day, these high school students presented their stories they created with the skills they developed from the Digital Storytelling Summit. Their stories reflected their interests and communities, such as chemistry, the Grand Forks Optimist Club, and the Empire Arts Center.
“The Digital Storytelling Summit was an incredible opportunity for organizations, like the Empire Arts Center, to network and interface with the next generation of communicators,” Matthew Ternus, the Development & Marketing Director for the Empire Arts Center, said.
Caitlyn Mey-Ley, one of the summit’s participants and a junior from Grand Forks Central High School, shared her story about the Grand Forks Optimist Club, a club that promotes good government and civic affairs with active interest, works for friendship among all and encourages the development of youth, among other values.
“I had an incredible experience from associating and interacting with professors and UND student interns. I even got to pretend to be a news reporter, which you don’t get to do every day,” Mey-Lay said. “I was so immersed in researching, creating, and working alongside students. For a moment, I forgot I was a high-school sophomore.”
The Digital Storytelling Summit is accepting applications from high school students in their sophomore, junior, and senior years for its 2025 edition. The event will take place this summer, between June 2 and June 8, and follows a similar pattern from its predecessor. Interested students are encouraged to complete the application form by Apr. 30. To apply, visit calendar.und.edu/event/digital-storytelling-summit.
“We are very excited to continue with the summit next summer,” Lee said.
Dylan Campbell is a Dakota Student Section Editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
