Newhouse School to hold Ed Smith Media Literacy Day April 20

Tuesday, April 17, 2012, By Wendy S. Loughlin

The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will host 55 sixth-grade students from the Syracuse City School District’s Edward Smith Elementary School on Friday, April 20, for Newhouse’s sixth annual Media Literacy Day.

Sponsored by the Newhouse Diversity Committee, the event serves to educate elementary school students about opportunities in the communications field and to broaden their understanding of how different media are constructed for specific groups of consumers.

“This event is one of many things the Newhouse School organizes to reach out to the diverse community in which we live,” says Tula Goenka, associate professor of television-radio-film and a member of the Diversity Committee. “We started this event with Ed Smith—a Syracuse City school—many years before the Say Yes to Education program was started. At a time when public education is beleaguered from all sides, it is heartening to see how vibrant and curious these sixth graders are, and how hard their teachers work for them.”

The students will be welcomed at the Newhouse School at 9:30 a.m. and will then attend three workshops introducing them to advertising, journalism and television-radio-film. Newhouse doctoral students Jennifer Billinson, Sherri Williams and John Wolf will lead the workshops.

For more information about Media Literacy Day, contact Goenka at 315-443-3376 or tgoenka@syr.edu.