The journey continues ...
There has been a high school journalism workshop at Cal Poly ever since. It is the finest, longest-running, most unique high school summer journalism program in the country.
The old SSA, which invited only boys and concentrated on sports writing, changed into the Interscholastic Press Association in 1962 after longtime Herald sports editor George T. Davis died.
The IPA invited girls to attend the workshop for the first time in 1965 and changed its curriculum to include all aspects of journalism.
Alexander changed the group’s title again – to the California Scholastic Press Association – in 1968 when he retired from the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and took upon himself (with Millie) the sponsorship of the group.
Without any financial backing at all, Alexander kept the workshop running because he considered it was too good an opportunity for high school journalists to let go. Without the CSPA workshop, there would have been no outside encouragement of high school kids who were considering a career in journalism.
Ralph and Millie Alexander died of cancer within a few months of one another in 1981. On his deathbed in Long Beach, Alexander summoned nine former workshop students and other friends of high school journalism and asked that they work to continue the CSPA workshop at Cal Poly.
Because most got the inspiration for their careers during their two weeks at Cal Poly, the nine said they would try. Ralph Alexander passed away the next day, but his legacy continues today.
The nine adults he anointed managed to produce the workshop in 1982. And the group has produced a CSPA Journalism workshop at Cal Poly every year since.
In 2001, the group staged its 50th anniversary journalism workshop in San Luis Obispo. There was a party and all prior graduates were invited to attend.
It’s quite a list. Some of the best and brightest in journalism, entertainment, the law, and other fields went through the workshop. Throw in a few authors, some politicians, and some television personalities. They all got their starts when they were 16 and away from home for the first time in their lives – at journalism camp.