Parks announced for Study-in-America 2018

By: Addison McKissack

A_m982@txstate.edu



SAN MARCOS, Texas – In summer 2018, mass communication majors will be able to visit national and state parks for class credit and a chance to be published. The trip’s destinations were announced on Thursday and will include the Grand Canyon National Park.

The program assistant, Nicole Hengst, announced that the program will be visiting four states and six parks over 14 days. The program will travel to these parks:

Nicole Hengst
by: Addison McKissack

• Caprock Canyon State Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Zion National Park
• Mesa Verde National Park
• the Great Sand Dunes National Park
• Palo Duro Canyon State Park

The trip is an opportunity for mass communication students to get up to six hours of credit for up to two electives: Feature Writing and Park Storytelling. Students will be completing assignments that range from social media posts and travelogue posts to mini-documentaries.

All of the work that is done will be compiled into a presentation to Texas State faculty, park officials and even the San Antonio Express-News.

“Professionally, I hope that the content pieces they create can help them land internships, can help them land jobs and really fill out their portfolio,” said Hengst. “I was very impressed with the work the students did last year … so I expect them to raise the bar again.”

The process to apply for the 2018 trip consists of an application and an interview with the faculty going on the trip. According to Hengst, this trip consists of a lot of time in cars and working with peers so it is important that students are willing to get out of their comfort zones.

“I was very surprised at how much our students were willing to push their boundaries,” said Hengst. “Also students’ willingness to work with each other … everyone helped each other and worked together.”

This trip started as a passion project for professor Dale Blasingame after he visited all 95 state and national parks in Texas. The program began as a class and trip to one park in 2016 and evolved into an opportunity for students to get experience working in the field and learn about the parks.

“We are really trying to encourage young people … to take advantage of these parks and services that we have and really find value in them,” said Hengst.

Students looking for more information should go to the Study-in-America panel during Mass Communication Week or the program’s website: http://studyintheparks.com.