What was the reason Magpie went to Boston?

Senior Emily Sanchez: The reason Magpie went to Boston was because Mr. Pearcy had told us there was a good conference happening where we could learn valuable information. It was a good experience, but it was hard at first because of money. We did a lot of ad sales and our principal, Matt Jones, contributed a lot. 

What was the biggest stress before going on the trip?

Sophomore Veda Fagner: This was my first trip without my parents, so I was very nervous I was going to leave something at home. 

Sanchez: The suitcase was the biggest struggle, figuring out the size of your suitcase. I  didn’t want my luggage to be taken to the side. It was a lot of time together. Magpie is usually only together during the first period.

Senior Jasmine Zimmerman: The suitcases were so stressful. Packing was so stressful. I had to prepare myself to go on a trip with a bunch of high schoolers.

What was your favorite place you visited in Boston?

Fagner: My favorite place we visited was probably when we went to the graveyard with Paul Revere’s tombstone. I like creepy things like horror movies, true crime documentaries, and graveyards. I also liked how the graveyard was historical as well.

Sanchez: Experiencing the Boston subway was very interesting. It was different because we don’t have subways in Indiana. It was nice not to drive a car everywhere.

Zimmerman: The Ghost and Gravestones ride was pretty cool. We got to visit several different places around Boston. Visiting Harvard was very nice, too.

What kind of workshops did you visit?

Fagner: I went to a lot of design workshops mainly cause I am very artistic. I feel like that can help us with multimedia. I went to a few writing workshops, but I enjoyed the design ones.

Sanchez: I went to a lot of leadership workshops. I went to one called Be a Coach Not a Critic. It was about how to dig deeper and how to talk to your staff positively.

Zimmerman: I visited a lot of staff culture workshops and learned a lot about stuff we can do to bring us closer together. There were a few not in my zone, but we had to go to other rooms because most of the rooms were packed.

What was your goal with your choice of workshops?

Fagner: I am not big into news writing, so I wanted to get more inspiration and learn more about the actual writing process. 

Sanchez: My goal was to write better captions. I told myself I wanted to come back and be able to write good captions. I wanted to come back with a more positive attitude and a better way to lead the staff.

Zimmerman: I went to Boston and wanted to come back with something. Some workshops are so hit and miss you don’t know what you’re going to get. I wanted to get more activities for us to do on Fun Fridays.

What was your favorite workshop?

Fagner: My favorite workshop was about reporting on tragedy. It was more of a  yearbook workshop, but we can incorporate it into Magpie.  

Sanchez: My favorite one was probably Caption Culture because I need to improve at captions. I got a lot of good things out of it because now I can write better captions.

Zimmerman: I went to one called Power of a Team, which was so fun. The speaker was really lively and upbeat. We talked about many different things we as a staff could do.

What is your favorite thing that you bought?

Fagner: I bought a Build-a-Bear. I liked it because it was the first one I had made. I also enjoyed it because I was there with a group of classmates, and they all stayed there and waited for me. It was very special, and it was nice that they were all there for me.

Sanchez: My favorite thing that I bought was my hoodie because I don’t buy anything for myself, and I knew I had to buy my family stuff. I bought my family keychains. I love my hoodie because it’s so soft, and the color is so pretty. 

Zimmerman: My favorite thing I bought was my bear with a lobster costume on. It means a lot to me. 

What is your favorite memory?

Fagner: My favorite memory is the rats in the trash can. On Friday night, we left the conference early to have our fancy dinner. We finished dinner, and then, we had two hours to shop or look around. I went with a group of classmates down to the harbor, and we saw a little rat run across to the trash can. I wondered if there was any more in there, so Payton decided to record over the trash can. After looking at the video, there were five or more rats in the trash can.

Sanchez: One of my favorite memories was being in the hotel. I enjoyed going up and down the elevator because there were so many schools and so many floors. I remember we were on an elevator where our room number was not on the elevator, so we had to take the stairs. But, the stairs were blocked off. Going through the hotel was such a journey.

Zimmerman: My favorite memory is when Kylee and I got locked out of our room at three in the morning. We had gone out to the hallway, and I forgot my key. Emily and Miaya were both dead asleep. Kylee and I had to go down to the front desk barefoot while everyone at the front desk was laughing at us.