Journalism conference introduces students to new opportunities

Milena+Brown%2C+Anna+Henning%2C+Bella+Mahal%2C+Serena+Bettis%2C+Karen+Manley%2C+Ethan+Duus%2C+and+Liam+Flake+hold+up+the+awards+Etched+in+Stone+received+on+October+19.+Photo+Credit%3A+Ben+DeGear

Milena Brown, Anna Henning, Bella Mahal, Serena Bettis, Karen Manley, Ethan Duus, and Liam Flake hold up the awards Etched in Stone received on October 19. Photo Credit: Ben DeGear

Members from Etched in Stone traveled to Colorado State University on Thursday, October 19 for the annual Journalism Day celebration put on by the Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA). The event, hosted in the Lory Student Center and attracting nearly 1,500 students and advisors from all over Colorado, featured over 50 breakout sessions throughout the day, along with a keynote speech by Greg Luft, the chair of the CSU Journalism Department, and an award ceremony. Representatives from media programs at colleges all around Colorado, including CSU, the University of Colorado, and Colorado Mesa University, set up booths around the conference to talk to prospective journalism students and show them their options in the media industry after high school.

I think that that’s really important to be involved in something that helps you expand your horizons.

— Karen Manley

The sessions covered topics from yearbook and graphic design, photojournalism, leadership, law and ethics in journalism, social media usage, and tips for good writing. Speakers ranged from local high school journalism teachers to representatives from big-name yearbook companies such as Jostens and Walsworth. At the sessions, speakers often try to involve the students in their lessons. At one session about effectively telling stories about people, the presenter brought up a volunteer to choose a picture from their phone and tell a story about it to the other students in the room. Karen Manley, a junior at Fossil, said,  “I’m learning a lot of different skills that I didn’t have before and am going out of my comfort zone. It’s going to help me be a leader not just in journalism but outside of it.” Many speakers also emphasized skills that are not only applicable to journalism fields, but also many other endeavors in life.

The theme for this year has “Free Speech, Free Press, Free People”, which is why many sessions focused more on covering controversial stories and understanding how freedom of information laws apply to student and professional journalists than they have in the past. Another big idea that journalism conferences focus on currently is the use of multimedia and social media in the news, in order to teach students how to be adaptable to the changing landscape of the journalism industry so that they can be have success with finding jobs in the future. Sophie Bernard from Englewood High School said that she decided to attend the event because, she “wanted to learn more about journalism and how it could help us in the future.”

At the end of the conference, the Executive Director of CSMA, Jack Kennedy, presented awards and led the crowd in sung rendition of the First Amendment. Etched in Stone received a CSMA Award of Commendation for their work during the 2016-2017 school year, and a Journalism Day Best of Show Honorable Mention for work published to the website in October of this school year. The next major conference that journalism students can attend is the JEA National Convention held in April in San Francisco.