The love of journalism is nationwide for high schoolers of all grades, ages and hometowns. Each year, the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association sponsor the National High School Journalism Conventions, to which thousands of people attend each semester. This fall, Washington D.C.’s own Marriott Hotel hosted this grand event the second weekend of November, and I was among the thousands of excited teenagers allowed to attend.
Early on the morning of November 6, teacher advisor Chrissy Wiedemann, head editor Margaret Doyle and I arrived in the bustling chaos of the convention world. It soon became clear that as a group of three, we were easily one of the smallest classes to attend, despite the fact that we lived closer than most attendees. Full newspaper, yearbook and broadcasting classes from all over the country ran around greeting each other, screaming because they hadn’t seen each other since the last convention six months ago.
We started out our day on a tour of the Washington Post’s printing plant in Springfield, Virginia. From the outside, it seemed like a large metal and brick warehouse. From the inside, it was a never ending labyrinth of machines and processors. Even though the plant wasn’t printing at the time, I was still overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the machines and the thought of what it must be like when everything is running. Our tour guides, one being a Yorktown graduate, explained the process with such enthusiasm that it was hard not to get excited. By the end, I realized that the production of a newspaper is just as hard from the printer’s point of view as the reporter’s.
When we returned to the hotel, we explored the large expo that was being held downstairs. Representatives from colleges, yearbook companies, writing camps, technology companies and more set up booths designed to interact with the attendees and draw us to their products. Being able to talk with those people really opened up my view of the journalism world.
The real excitement for the day was for the opening ceremony that evening. Thousands of attendees flooded the great hall for a speech by legendary investigative journalist Bob Woodward, who is best known for his covering of the Watergate Scandal, his Pulitzer-Prize and his numerous best-selling non-fiction books. We arrived early and managed to get some seats very close to the stage. Woodward talked about his experiences towards the beginning of his career and how they changed everything he did, many of which were failures that taught him right from wrong in the journalism world. Through powerful stories and his wondrous way with words, he taught the audience some of the most important things he learned. He inspired us to take the journalism world seriously, but to also explore and find your own way.
All in all, this experience was truly invaluable and left me wanting to take more pride in the newspaper world than ever. Hopefully that will carry on through my work and my life from here on out.
