On November 21, the Journalism Department took off to Washington DC to attend the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention.  Each year, this convention takes place in different places. Several contests took place, and last year’s yearbook, The Roundup, won sixth place best in show and second place for the design of the year. They competed against other middle schools.

In addition, they saw a speaker, famous for his work with Meet the Press, Chuck Todd. He talked about journalism as a future career, and what his career is like. He talked about interviewing and what it is like to be a journalist and how it’s not always going to be easy, not everyone will want to talk to you, also mentioning how he thought he would be a politician, he didn’t know he would make it in the journalism field.

There were also lots of sessions where you could learn about specific things like editing, environmental writing, photoshop, etc. We have brought back many tools to make Canyon Echoes and the yearbook better.

One of the sessions that several people went to was Be The Good. The speaker was from Texas, and she used to be a journalism teacher. She talked about how even though journalism has taken a hit, it is still important. She also mentioned how you have to ask good questions to get good answers. She said that you need to ask if someone wants to remain anonymous because sometimes they surprise you and want to be known. “Be The Good was one of my favorite sessions. The speaker opened with a joke and made it feel more relatable,” Paige Dillinger (8) said.

Another session was about having empathy when interviewing. The speaker talked about how you have to just listen sometimes. You also want to make the person feel comfortable and engage in conversation. Think about if you were in their shoes. “He taught us how to interview. It helped me get more information out of people,” June Jung (8) said.

The conference was in Marriot Wardman Park, and there were many cool destinations nearby. “I liked being independent with my friends, and exploring DC,” Evlabia Konstantinou (8) said.

This was an experience none of the staff would forget, and now they are bringing what they learned into their writing.

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