Summer 2025
What's Your Story?
Learn journalism skills at one of the country's finest independent newspapers in an interactive workshop!
Two-week session in August 2025, Monday through Friday.
Opportunities include:
• Reporting lunches with public officials and cultural leaders
• Producing stories for publication
• Introduction to editing
• Writing for the web and social media
• Interviewing techniques
• Small-group sessions with working reporters and photographers
• Site visits to local institutions and industry
Open to students in grades 9 to 12, age 14 and older.
Limited to 10 participants per session.
Tuition: $2,275 per session.
Students may attend two sessions with prior arrangement. Financial help available.
Call: 631-324-0002
Email: editor@ehstar.com
TENTATIVE 2025 TEACHING STAFF
David Rattray, educator
David is the fifth member of the Rattray family in generations to have held the post of editor. He has worked as a field archaeologist and boatbuilder. He was an associate producer for public television documentaries and at a museum design firm before returning to East Hampton in 1998. He is a co-founder of the Plain Sight Project, which works to increase public knowledge about slavery in the North.
Christine Sampson, lead educator
Christine, who has been writing for newspapers since the age of 12, is living her best life as a journalist. She first joined The Star as a reporter in the spring of 2015 and is now its deputy managing editor and special sections editor, specializing in education issues as well as breaking news and investigative reporting. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Newsday, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and Virginia Gazette. She is an active member of the Press Club of Long Island, and teaches journalism and creative writing in a variety of settings. As an undergraduate student at Hofstra University, she was mentored by Bob Greene, the Pulitzer-winning Newsday reporter and editor. In June, she was named the Press Club of Long Island's Narrative Reporter of the Year for 2023.
Ashley Milne-Tyte, guest lecturer
Ashley began her career in radio in the early 2000s as an intern at WNYC, New York City’s public radio station. For seven years she was a reporter for Marketplace, the public radio business show. In 2012 she launched her own podcast, The Broad Experience, at a time when podcasting was still mostly guys talking about tech over Skype. The show ran until 2023. She has taught audio storytelling at Columbia Journalism School and podcasting at Stonybrook University. As an independent journalist she reports for radio and print/online, and has produced multiple podcasts for clients.
Jeremy Dennis, guest lecturer
Jeremy is a contemporary fine art photographer, an enrolled Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, and lead artist and founder of the non-profit Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc. In his work, he explores Indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation. Dennis holds a Master's in fine art from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor's degree in studio art from Stony Brook University. He currently lives and works in Southampton on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation.
Bess Rattray, guest lecturer
Bess is a former features editor at Vogue. She led The Star's East magazine for several years. She is also a part-time copy editor at The Star. She will work with our students on writing and editing for magazines.
Biddle Duke, guest lecturer
Biddle launched The Star's East magazine, whose four issues a year celebrate the soul — history, environment, food, culture, art, politics — of the Easternmost tip of Long Island. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker online, The New York Times, Ski Racing, The Stowe Reporter, Vermont Ski and Ride, The Surfers Journal, Backcountry magazine, The East Hampton Star, and several other regional publications.
Laura Donnelly, guest lecturer
Laura spent her early journalism career in Washington DC as a researcher for NPR and NBC News. She then became a pastry chef and worked in numerous bakeries and restaurants in Washington and East Hampton. She has a written about food for the Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly magazine, Hamptons, Town & Country, and the East Hampton Star. She currently writes an occasional column called “Seasons By The Sea” as well as restaurant reviews for the Star.