In early November, Lawrence High student journalists traveled to Boston to attend the National Student Press Association convention. The convention was attended by students from all over the U.S. Journalists attended sessions where they learned different techniques of journalism and competed in on-site contests for awards.
The competitions had the rankings of “honorable mention,” “excellent,” and the medal-winning “superior.” Lawrence High’s yearbook placed second in Best of Show and senior yearbook editor-in-chief Maya Smith placed superior in news writing.
“It was nice to get that first little recognition of all of the hard work and hours were worth it,” Smith said.
Photo editor Bryndal Hoover received an honorable mention in feature photography.
“It felt nice, even if it was an honorable mention, it showed that they took the time to actually just mention my award out of at least 26 other people that submitted for this huge award,” Hoover said.
The convention offered sessions so that journalists could learn more and expand their skills. LHS journalist Silas Brush attended the convention hoping to learn more about journalism and what opportunities she could have.
“I got to learn about a lot of different careers in journalism, not just photojournalism. There are a lot of ways I could go to college or go into different majors,” Brush said.
The sessions were taught by speakers who had experience or an interesting take on their field of journalism.
“The people were there because they wanted to be there. They weren’t there just to like screw around, they were there more because they wanted to better themselves and learn self improvement,” said Brush.
Journalists got the chance to work side by side with fellow journalists from all over the country, making connections and even friends.
“I met people from all over the country and people who like so many different skill sets and like ways of doing the same thing,” Smith said.
The journalists not only went to Boston and attended the convention, but they also went sightseeing around the historical city.
“I like history so being able to go on the Freedom Trail and stuff like that was cool,” said Brush. “It’s interesting to be in a city where there’s a lot of history.”
