A handful are TV reporters for the national channel, TVM. Others are radio reporters and still others are senior political writers for major newspapers. All are, well, in their early 20s.

Meet the first class of Journalism students in the Maldives.

This workshop has been the most fun yet — we’ve had to pack years of training into one week.

The way the curriculum works here is that the first year is dedicated to Dhivehi (the local Maldivian language) and English, History and Civics. Only after two semesters do students begin to learn the basics of journalism.

So, it was fun and exciting to talk to these guys about, oh, everything! Web tools, video shooting and tid bits of editing, photography, and Mirva’s extensive freelancing knowledge. And they were super eager to learn!