iCamp Academy Summer 2025

Over the summer, West Chester University hosts a free week-long camp where students get to learn how to fight social injustices through the media. This past summer, from July 20-26, two Saul students and I stayed at Allegheny Hall on campus. 

 

The program offers 4 media tracks: game development, video production, podcasting, and digital journalism. These tracks are taught by well-informed and prepared professors from WCU. Some of these professors even won awards.

 

Social Justice Hour

While there are different tracks, each student takes a social justice hour with Dr. Michael Burns. He is an Associate Professor of English with specialization in Composition/Rhetoric and African American Rhetoric(s) and is also the Chair of the English Department.

 

During this time, Dr.Burns challenges campers to think deeper about their project and how their media will influence change in society. Then the tracks go into their separate classrooms.

 

Game Development

Game development is taught by Dr. Randall Cream, who studied games for his career, designing and developing the Humanities Gaming Institute: Serious Games for Research and Pedagogy. He is also the professor of Digital Humanities and New Media at WCU.

 

Campers work with industry-standard software, starting with a blank slate involving coding, design, and creativity. While the finished product is fun, the journey to create it is long.

 

2025 Gaming Camper, Zoe Grant: “We had to really focus and lock in, and it was no joke.”

 

2024 Gaming Camper Timothy Holmes: “Game development track was…nothing like I had before…making a game with such a limited time…made me appreciate the other big game developers out there…” 

 

Video Production 

Video production was instructed by Niger Miles, a Director of Photography and Colorist. He has highly technical and mastered skills, including creative direction, comprehensive branding, and design. While also being a host of video creation skills like filming, lighting, and directing, to all stages of post-production and finishing.  

 

In this track, campers had the opportunity to create a film to fight an injustice they thought was important. In some projects, the other campers would be extras/actors in a film. 

 

This past summer, the video production track used equipment from Canon cameras to the editing app, CapCut, to deliver their film. 

 

Podcasting 

Podcasting is guided by Dr. Jeremy McCool, who taught multiple courses at WCU, like Radio Production, Introduction to Communications, Media, and Culture, along with a class he created, Digital Storytelling, and a couple more. 

 

His research focus is on media representation and socially conscious hip-hop messaging. He created a podcast himself with another iCamp professor, Earl Hopkins, on a similar focus. 

 

In the course of a week, the other students and I were challenged to create a podcast about a social injustice we felt strongly about, containing 2 complete episodes.  

 

A fellow camper from the 2025 session, Ya’Nia says, “The iCamp coursework was rigorous, but I got a lot of encouragement and assistance to help me achieve my product.” 

 

In the end, the podcast track created a logo, two episodes, an intro, and a promotional video.

 

Digital Journalism 

Digital Journalism is taught by Earl Hopkins, who is highly decorated in the social world of media. He has won features as a reporter for our very own Philadelphia Inquirer, covering arts, entertainment, and culture throughout the region. 

 

Campers in this particular track were assigned to create 2 articles. A handful included interviews from other iCampers or counselors.  

 

Although the iCamp workload may seem daunting, it’s not the only perspective of the experience. The schedule includes break times, going to WCU’s dining hall, and fun group activities led by camp counselors. 

Me and my fellow campers got a handful of wonderful counselors who set up icebreakers for us and a trip to downtown West Chester, which is filled with beautiful shops, and with our own money, we were able to purchase things like ice cream and food. In the dorm we played teamwork games, we had movie night, game night and we painted. 

The counselors understood the heavy workload we were under and helped us balance it with relaxation time and fun. 

https://icampwcu.org/ 

https://www.wcupa.edu/arts-humanities/communicationStudies/iCamp/