On November 13th, the Magpie Newspaper class set off to Nashville, Tennessee, for the National High School Journalism Convention. After a long bus ride with a few stops, including the famous giant gas station, Buc-ees, they made it to the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. It was crammed with many other newspaper classes and reeked of excitement and exhaustion. The hotel was like a maze, and a lot of people got lost, yet in the end it was all worth it.

Chris Pearcy: “The two sports media sessions I went to were my favorites. We are looking to form a sports media program next year, so it was great to finally see how we can do it. I also did a lot of on-site critiques. I always enjoy talking with students about how they can improve their news websites.”

Veda Fagner: “I went to a lot of staff culture and literary magazine sessions. I want to start a literary magazine, so I learned a lot on how to do that and how to get them out to the public. My most favorite one was a staff culture one where we got to draw a pig, so I really liked that”

Lilly Biggs: “I went to one that was called Stories that Stick; it wasn’t necessarily what we do in Magpie. It was more so about video and article writing for television news, but it gave some really good advice about not sticking to the negatives. If there was a tornado that wiped out a town, don’t just focus on that; maybe, for example, here’s a story of a man who came back and was picking through his prized possessions and the toll that it takes on them emotionally. It makes things more relatable and emotional.”

Isaac Szmara: “It was about conquering your fear of the unknown. It basically just talked about how life is a river, and there’s tributaries to explore. It helped a guy like me who is scared to try new things, and sometimes you don’t always have everything together.”

Sydney Vo: “The DEI ones were more yearbook-focused, but it’s more on how to be more inclusive with the student body. They do some of their yearbook in Spanish, and that reminded me of how we added multiple languages to our website. I was thinking what if instead some were written in Spanish or Creole Haitian instead of being translated.”

Jackson Lythgoe: “There was one that I went to with a few other classmates about leadership. The teacher made us all stand up and have our arms out in a T pose. The lesson was that you couldn’t do it alone; you have to have your team with you.”

Goldie Kitchell: “There was an advisor from the Chicago Laboratory High School. I think I have over four pages of notes from that session. It made me look at journalism a whole other way. It mentioned several current journalists that I am able to look up to.”

Corrallyn Dillon: “The exposure triangle went into depth about aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. Those are things we don’t really learn in magpie since we focus on writing.”

Ellison Kitchell: “There was one that was strictly podcast-related. It had some really good information on the technical part of being a podcaster. It was mainly a Q&A for us.”

Kailee Lake: “I went to a very silly one about light painting with your camera. Although I don’t think it had much to do with journalism, it was entertaining and made the session fun. Especially when the advisor started fighting over the lights with another room beside us.”

Chris Pearcy: “I always enjoy watching my students interact in an environment outside of school. New combinations of friends get formed, and some students really come out of their shells. They build camaraderie on these trips that feeds back into the classroom. It’s been a great place for current leaders to start helping future leaders.”

Veda Fagner: “On Friday, we went to the Catio Cafe. I really enjoyed it because I like cats. I wanted to stay there the entire time.” 

Lilly Biggs: “The hotel was really pretty. It was huge. I got lost a million times, but other than that, it was a very natural-looking environment. It was really immersive, and made me feel like I was on a little island village, even though it was just the inside of a convention hotel. I also believe that the trip made us all closer to each other, more friendly with each other.” 

Isaac Szmara: “We got to eat together as a staff, and it’s always good to have that time to talk about the sessions and communicate to each other.”

Sydney Vo: “I really liked hanging out with some of the new staff. Obviously, I hung out with Goldie, but I’ve known her for a very long time since we’ve both been on staff together. Ellison is an example of a new person on staff, and we became friends because of other reasons, but rooming with her has been fun. We were basically partying every night, watching brain rot; it was crazy.”

Jackson Lythgoe: “The hotel itself was very nice. It was probably the fanciest hotel I’ve ever been to. The shopping, although expensive was nice too.”

Goldie Kitchell: “It was good to get together with the staff, especially with that small of a group. Going around and exploring while being out of town is really healthy and beneficial. My favorite thing was definitely a small group of us getting matching Build-A-Bears.”

Corrallyn Dillon: “I liked the little break from school, but also calling my mom and asking if she’d be mad if spent all of my money on Legos was pretty fun.”

Ellison Kitchell: “I loved getting to spend time with the magpie staff. I didn’t know anyone here at the beginning of the school year, and now I have a bunch of friends.”

Kailee Lake: “Either getting to watch my classmates and teacher do bumper cars on ice, or going to the Catio Cat Lounge, had to be my favorite experiences. It was something you don’t see in a classroom and seemed more relaxed.”

Chris Pearcy: “That’s a tough one because I always get so much from these events. Around the scholastic journalism world, money is always an issue. Almost nobody has enough. So, it’s always good to learn how others manage to produce great content with a limited budget because we can do the same.”

Veda Fagner: “There was one where they told us to show our staff what you expect from them.”

Lilly Biggs: “Don’t be afraid to contact people if you need to interview somebody, or just ask a quick question. Maybe you have to go somewhere and get permission, don’t be afraid to ask. You can’t get the yes if you never do.”

Isaac Szmara: “I want to be a sports writer, and there was very good information on that. You’re going to have these sport things, like credibility is good, and learn your thing even if you’re not good at it at first. You’re going to figure it out.”

Sydney Vo: “I went to a few that were about localising your stories. We definitely need to work on that. People just write general news articles, and there’s no reason why the community would want to go to the magpie website and read those all the time. Get people in your community involved, don’t just state your opinion on something.”

Goldie Kitchell: “A really good one that I got was that continuous dedication outdoes occasional brilliance any day. It’s something I look up to and preach as an editor. It taught me to do my job and how others should do theirs. Do as I do and not just as I say is something I learned from that.”

Corrallyn Dillon: “The best was how to make our social media posts receive more engagement, and how to just made them better overall.”

Ellison Kitchell: “I learned more about social media tactics and how to do marketing. It may not be a part of what we do in Magpie, but I think it’s a good thing to know how to do.”

Kailee Lake: “There was a session all about how journalism can really impact the world and make a change. There were examples about how someone wrote about chemicals in the community’s water, and changes were made because of that.”