4H teens learn about media during trip to Olympia

Whitman County 4H members Brenden Jacobs (far left) and Patrick Jacobs (far inner left) pose in a group with 9th District Sen. Mark Schoesler (center). The Jacobs brothers, along with nine other 4H members, visited Olympia for four days for a 4H conference. WSU county extension manager Janet Schmidt (right) helped coordinate the conference.

Eleven teenagers from Whitman and Asotin counties hit the road Feb. 19 for a whirlwind 4H conference in Olympia.

What followed for the students was a four-day lesson on media and a little fun on the side.

The 4H conference, called Know Your Government, is an annual event in Olympia. For the first time, Whitman County 4Hers attended. Three members from Whitman County, Nick Niehenke of Colton and Patrick and Brenden Jacobs of Colfax, joined eight 4Hers from Asotin County.

In an interview with the Gazette March 8, the Jacobs brothers recounted their trip to Olympia. They spent several hours in mock press conferences, in which they, as mock reporters set about proving one point or another as media professionals.

The students also learned about how to take an interview, pick out questions for an interview and create videos for on-line news. They learned about other aspects of news-making from start to finish.

Janet Schmidt, WSU county extension director, helped coordinate the trip to Olympia and said the students did well.

“I’m so obviously proud of the kids,” she said.

Theme of the conference was Politics in the Media. Members were informed that the media in general is educated to be objective in its coverage, but can lose sight of this.

Patrick said that as he and others worked each side of a story, he too saw how flexible information could become.

“I learned a little bit about how they make the news. You can take a little bit and expound on it and make it a lot more than it was,” Patrick said.

The three members from Whitman County earlier toured the office of the Gazette for part of their 4H project. Gazette publisher Gordon Forgey showed the trio the Gazette’s collection of presses and vintage equipment in the back of the Gazette offices. The trio also heard Gazette news staff talk about some basics of journalism, including writing the most important news first in a story and remaining fair and objective.

“We learned that journalists try not to twist a story,” Patrick said.

They pointed out the trip to Olympia was not all politics. They had some fun on the road trip playing on the walkie talkies in each car.

In Olympia, they enjoyed their lodgings.

“It was a huge hotel. We got lost,” Patrick said with a smile. During one break for down time, they got to play a game of mini-golf.

Toward the end of the conference, all 200 4H participants and their chaperones attended a dinner with several state legislators. The Jacobs duo sat next to Sen. Mark Schoesler from Ritzville during the dinner.