After attending the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri this past summer, Shelley Petkovsek knew the experience would transform her teaching. What she did not expect, however, was how her school community would embrace the changes.

“The impact on my classroom has been me releasing control to the students,” Petkovsek said. “It is their yearbook, their newspaper, and I am the facilitator-adviser. That has been great. I haven’t had to take any sports photos this year, and the kids are taking amazing photos like professionals.”

Petkovsek, who teaches at Mance Park Middle School in Huntsville, Texas, is one of 135 journalism teachers from across the country who attended the Reynolds High School Journalism Institutes in 2014.

“Additionally, we have unleashed the online social media beast on our town, and the reception has been fantastic,” Petkovsek said. “My principal is backing my program, and I feel motivated in a way I have never been before.”

The Reynolds High School Journalism Institutes are geared toward helping teachers start, reinvigorate or expand middle-school and high-school media programs. Teachers who are selected to participate in the 2015 Institutes will be invited for one week of hands-on training at premier universities, as well as online pre- and post-Institute training.

Travel, housing, meals and materials will be paid by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. CEU credits will also be available.

Teachers will receive in-depth instruction on an array of topics, including news literacy, reporting, writing, editing, multimedia, photojournalism, online layout and design, ethics and responsibilities, the future of news and First Amendment issues.

“The prestige of the program has given me the credibility and confidence to build a program at my school that is supported by my administration, district and community,” said Annette Deming, a journalism teacher at Don Antonio Lugo High School in Chino Hills, California, who attended the Institute at the University of Missouri in 2014. “My students are experiencing technology and the type of learning that goes beyond the walls of my classroom because I gained the knowledge, experience and support from the Institute.”

Applications for the 2015 Reynolds High School Journalism Institutes will be available in late November at schooljournalism.org.