Did you know where your newspaper and yearbook staff went for four days?
On Nov. 12, we went to the National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. An opportunity to explore, grow, and find more resources to take advantage of.
Journalism Education Association (JEA) and National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) sponsored this convention to gather scholastic journalists, advisers, and journalism teachers. There were speakers, instructional breakout sessions, workshops, a college fair, and a trade show. This year, it was hosted in the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee. This is the nation’s largest high school journalism convention. JEA/NSPA is hosted in both spring and fall.
There were over thirty colleges and universities represented at the college exhibition. There were over 5,200 students who attended, from forty-nine different states and eight countries. There were around 210 different schools there.
With some of those attendees, JEA announced its National Student Media Contests, honoring 684 students, 123 superiors, 199 excellent, and 362 honorable mention awards. In total, 1,668 students competed in photo, broadcast, graphic design, literary magazine, design, and writing contests.
The first day of the convention, Nov. 13, there was a JEA outreach, preconvention workshops, and a convention check-in and trade show. Attendees get a personal lanyard that has their name, school, and credentials that attach to the badge, which shows whether one is an editor, advisor, or among a lengthy list of items that involve journalism.
Many colleges had interactive setups and pulls to gain the attention of student attendees. Things like spinning a wheel and winning a prize, along with many pins and stickers that were passed around, interactive stations, and handing out fliers to advertise their programs.
Friday and Saturday were the days of the sessions. The sessions begin as early as 8:00 am and go on until 2:00 pm. They lasted 45 minutes, giving time for attendees and speakers to find the rooms they needed to go to. Ballrooms, studios, breakout rooms, and Mezzanine rooms, over thirty-four sessions per hour, were scattered through the many rooms in Opryland. It felt like an infinite number of rooms.
So, both the newspaper and yearbook staff had to carefully consider what sessions they wanted to attend, along with being mindful of their time.
They included a variety of journalism topics such as social media, photojournalism, interviewing, broadcasting, and so on. Some workshops make you experience what is happening. There were contests, featured speakers, media law central, diversity certificates, good for beginner sessions, advanced topics, community journalism strand, and informational sessions.
There was a workshop called “From chaos to creativity: Unfolding the story,” where we wrote the exposition. We were allowed to write whatever we wished, within appropriate bounds. Then our paper was folded and passed to random people for the rising action, falling action, and finally the resolution. Four people per paper. No one got their original paper back. Some people read them aloud; a story filled with chaos, but within that comes creativity.
Both staff were given a tote bag each containing a small notebook and a pen. Pages were filled with notes, ideas, exercises to get the creative juices flowing, and acronyms so they could continue following along with the speaker.
They were allowed to go to any session they wanted because there was a little something for everyone. Everyone had a focus they wanted to see, to explore, and possibly make a career out of.
“It impacted me because of the hat and belt I got, and I learned how to use the camera more efficiently and professionally to help my business.” Bruce Mowen continues to rock the hat and belt he got down in Nashville at school.
I recall Rosalie Batistoni calling Bruce a lucky charm because the Yearbook staff won a camera after finding out one they had bought didn’t work.
Without this Nashville trip to the JEA/NSPA Convention, our staff would have missed opportunities to improve our skills, discover new resources, and learn various techniques from journalists across the country and around the world. It is an experience we need to remind ourselves that there is always room to grow.
Cici Hicks, who has been on the staff since her freshman year and is currently editor-in-chief for our newspaper publication, expressed growth that can be made. “For me, I realized what more I could be doing as editor-in-chief, and I saw things that I may want to change for next year’s publication.”
This convention encouraged us to see fresh approaches to telling a story, to go beyond our routines, experiment with new ideas, and not be afraid of trying something new. As student journalists and photojournalists, it is our purpose to inform, to listen, and to share what matters to our community.
After all, “Everyone has a story if we are willing to listen.” – Omar Cherif
