Chillax in Mille Lacs
Posted: June 10th, 2010 | Author: Phil | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: john hughes | 1 Comment »
Radio Summer “camp” week is off to a great start. Two years ago, I spent a week at the base of Mt. Hood as one of 12 fellows. It’s quite different this year, spending the week in a lake house in central Minnesota as Program Manager for a group of five students.
There have been fewer summer camp antics than I might have expected—of course, the weather hasn’t been terribly cooperative—but I think it’s because they’re studious, in the best way. Props to Phil and his selection committee for finding a group of sincere, eager students who are going to do the Media Institute proud.
After we arrived Monday, we took a feeble pontoon boat out for a ride and had the students interview one another and introduce their partners to the group. Tuesday we set out some goals for the program, reminding the students that we’re here for them and hope that they’ll get as much out of the summer as possible. It rained all day, so Phil and I worried that cabin fever would set in, but testament to their good personalities is that they didn’t whine about spending nearly 24 hours straight all together in one room. We livened up the evening by watching John Hughes’ classic The Great Outdoors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdhpxD923pQ) and plotting conflict in the narrative.
Yesterday the students were assigned to interview a local and write a 500-word profile. All together, these profiles should serve as a (dare I say “quaint”?) snapshot of the village of Isle, Minnesota. A few of them seemed nervous, but spent the afternoon talking to strangers and all seemed to end up enjoying the exercise.
Today the students selected topics for their first documentary projects, three-minute radio pieces. I’m eager about their selections, but I’ll let them reveal what they’re working on later. In the mean time, today they have to come up with either a ghost story or a John Hughes inspired coming-of-age story to tell around the campfire. I hope they go for John Hughes.
Stay tuned. I feel so lucky to be working with this dynamic, interesting set of students. They’re going to do great work.