Teaching teachers

Last week I taught two design classes for the High School Journalism Institute at UNR's J-school. The purpose of the institute is to provide training, classes and food for thought for high school journalism teachers so that they can improve their print product back home, and, more importantly, teach their students.
I was completely nervous about this class, as I've never formally taught inDesign or design before. I've given plenty of crash courses to and helped out fellow Sagebrushers, but that's much different.
Overall I enjoyed teaching the class. In the three hours I was given I was able to give a brief presentation about design basics, do a walk through with the class and then set them free to work on their assignment. The biggest challenge was working with teachers who are not very computer savvy. I couldn't help but liken the experience to attempting to teach my father (we're still working on copy paste) design software. For the teachers who already had a vague understanding of what inDesign was capable of or had used another program, I think they really got a lot out of it.
After getting my start in high school on the newspaper staff, I hope that on some level, my design class benefits other high schoolers across the country.

First published photo

I took my very first photo for print last week. We didn't have any photographers available to take the cover shot, so I grabbed one of the Sagebrush D-70s and pretended to know what I was doing.
The idea was getting a few students together in Nevada gear near the Mackay Statue. This summer issue of the newspaper is marketed toward the incoming students and their parents who will be on campus for orientation over the summer.
Not the most exciting photo in the world, but it's in focus and gets the job done. Not bad for someone who has never operated an SLR.
I'm really looking forward to taking a photo journalism class in the fall. It will be really exciting to get some good photos to expand my portfolio.