Lawson Named Academy's "Chief of Staff"
06/19/07
Author: Joe Dennis
Contact: Joe Dennis, jodennis@uga.edu


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Rising Mill Creek High School senior Wil Lawson was named the 2007 Georgia Journalism Academy's "Chief of Staff."

Sponsored by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Georgia, the Journalism Academy is a weeklong high school camp for journalism students. Students live in a campus dorm during the week and take classes at the Grady College in one of seven core areas: broadcast writing and reporting, broadcast news photography, news writing, feature writing, editorial writing, photojournalism and graphic design. Seventy-five students attended this year's camp, held June 10-16, which had the theme "Grady's Anatomy."

Lawson, a resident of Hoschton, was a member of the graphic design class that put together the Academy 12-page newspaper, The Pulse. The newspaper was fully written and designed by Academy students, with students contributing articles and photos produced during their Academy class. Lawson was named the "star resident" of the graphic design class by his instructor Sue Myers Smith.

"Wil always paid attention, contributed several good ideas for the paper and designed several pages of The Pulse," Smith said. "He truly rose as a leader in the class."

Lawson, who also attended the Academy in 2006, will be editor-in-chief of Mill Creek High School's The Hawk Print in the fall.

"The Journalism Academy is such a great experience," he said. "It opens up new doors personally and professionally. Last year the news writing class helped me improve my writing, and this year the graphic design class will help us improve the design of our paper."

Seventy-five students attended this year's Journalism Academy, held June 10-16.