Coos Bay. Ashland. St. Helens. Portland.

Up-and-coming journalists from across Oregon will converge this week at the High School Journalism Institute, a hands-on training program at Oregon State University.

These 18 students will work alongside and learn from professional journalists as they report, write, edit and photograph stories. By next week, they will be published journalists, with article bylines and photo credits on OregonLive.com.

The High School Journalism Institute has trained hundreds of teenagers since it began more than two decades ago. During that time, the news industry has changed rapidly. Oregon has, too. But newsrooms don’t always reflect the communities they inform. By helping launch the careers of aspiring journalists, the High School Journalism Institute seeks to increase diversity in newsrooms statewide.

Many of the students selected for High School Journalism Institute already bring diverse perspectives to their school publications. Many students have linguistic, cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds that differ from those that predominate Oregon schools. Most will be the first in their family to attend college. They will earn one of their first college credits at High School Journalism Institute — at no cost to students or their families.

The program is a collaboration among Oregon State, The Oregonian/OregonLive and other Oregon media organizations, including EO Media Group, Oregon Public Broadcasting and Rosebud Media in Medford.