MURFREESBORO, Tenn., — Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Media and Entertainment recently boosted the media literacy of area youth by hosting the “Come to Voice” summer camp program for seventh to ninth graders from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rutherford County.

Since 2022, professors Jennifer Woodard and Ken Blake have facilitated the digital literacy camp that has empowered area youth to use their voices through hands-on experience in digital media.

“Partnering with the Boys and Girls Clubs lets us engage with kids in these demographic groups and inspire them to work toward getting into college and, we hope, majoring in a media-related field,” said Ken Blake, a professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media.

“We want to help these kids realize the value of what they have to say and develop voices to say it publicly and powerfully. That’s what it means to “Come to Voice.’”

This summer, 20 students got an overview of several media areas, including data and broadcast journalism, advertising and public relations. Each segment was taught by different School of Journalism and Strategic Media faculty during the June 17-21 camp.

Lauren Cobb, a rising eighth grader, said she enjoyed creating the Google survey and hearing the different opinions.

“You get to see how other people think because not everyone thinks the same,” said Cobb.

Trevor Johnson, a counselor for the Boys and Girls Clubs for seven years, said, “It’s been great to see our kids learn different ways to content-create and be safe while doing it.”

Multiple activities were planned throughout the week, including a tour of the XR studio inside the Bragg Media and Entertainment Building, a visit to the MakerSpace inside the James E. Walker Library, and lunch in McCallie Dining Hall.

Participants also enjoyed a road trip to Nashville to tour the WTVF-TV NewsChannel5 studios, where they met meteorologist Leland Statom and went behind the scenes of a live segment of the famous “Talk of the Town” cooking show.

New to the camp this year, students visited the College of Education to learn ways to use their voice through education.

Michelle Stevens, professor and director of the Center for Fairness, Justice, and Equity in the College of Education, welcomed the campers to MTSU, giving them an overview of the programs offered in the COE.

“We believe that we have to do a better job at being seen and more accessible earlier,” said Stevens. “We can’t wait until they’re juniors and seniors because their minds are made up, so we need to partner with our community sooner.”

Woodard, also assistant dean of the College of Media and Entertainment, said the goal is to extend the program to other academic colleges within the university to encourage students to pursue a college education.

“We want to open this (Come to Voice) to the other eight colleges on campus,” said Woodard. “We plan to continue to provide our week plus offer a week for all the other colleges in hopes that the students will discover something that makes the dream of college a reality.”

Woodard’s son, Kaden Woodard, will be in the eighth grade this fall and has participated in the camp since it began. He said his favorite experience this year was the trip to NewsChannel5.

“I learned that it’s possible to make robotic cameras that move for you, but humans are still more accurate with getting crazy camera angles,” said Kaden. “No matter how much machines try to compete, humans will always be better.”

Recreational activities such as basketball, volleyball, and swimming at MTSU’s Recreation Center were also on the list of activities students enjoyed throughout the week. 

The College of Media and Entertainment offers bachelor’s degrees in media and entertainment, animation, video and film production, interactive media, journalism, recording industry and audio production.

To learn more about MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment, visit https://mtsu.edu/media/index.php. For more information about the Center for Fairness, Justice, and Equity, visit www.mtsu.edu/fjecoe/.

More information about the work of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rutherford County is available at www.bgcrc.net.

— Johari Hamilton (Johari.HamiltonGA@mtsu.edu)