Monday of October 19th the NHSPA (Nebraska High School Press Association) Journalism Convention took place at the UNL Union building. It was hosted by the Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications. About 650 students from around 50 different schools from various cities in Nebraska attended, as well as a variety of esteemed journalists and reporters newspapers and broadcasting stations around the U.S.
Workshops or sessions were held on Journalism related topics such as News Writing, held by Mary Kay Roth, a journalist and writer for multiple newspapers in the past such as the Beatrice Daily Sun, and more. Some other workshops that took place were Creating Winning Photos, held by Bruce Thorson, UNL’s photo journalism professor , and the very important New Advisers sessions for advisers and journalism teachers like our own Northeastern advisor, Journalism and English teacher, Mrs. Samantha Russell. When asked what her favorite sessions to attend were, she said, “My favorite session was the New Advisers sessions. I learned many new things.” According to Hunter Swenson, a senior here at Northeast and the Northeastern Editor in Chief, his favorite session was, “Online News because our paper is online, so it was very helpful when we started it last year.”
Both Russell and Swenson would recommend students to attend, as Swenson said, if they are serious about journalism, to go to the next NHSPA Journalism Convention if possible. Russell said, “Yes. Journalism is a type of writing many are not exposed to in high school. It gives students more creative liberties and helps build students’ writing ability.”
She said about the convention, “I found the convention to be motivating. It gets me excited for recruiting and to try new things with the Northeastern. She plans on taking students again next year.