Michigan Interscholastic Press Association
This was my first experience interacting with student journalists from other schools. I attended a few basic reporting and coverage sessions as I was just in the beginning journalism class. This conference was pretty small but overall piqued my interest in conferences and other student-run publications.
2018 fall conference
My group and I planning out our group feature article. We wrote about the impact of MSU Dairy, the campus dairy store, on the students that work there.
MIPA's summer workshop is always held at Michigan State University for 5 days. The 2018 workshop was my first time attending and I was part of the Feature Writing and Reporting class. The class was taught by El Estoque adviser Julia Sattherthwaite. We focused primarily on short features as well as one longer group project. At the time, I struggled with creating solid leads and interesting transitions. The class taught me some ways to avoid cliches as well as how to connect with the readers. The workshop overall allowed me to connect with a lot of student journalists many of whom I still talk to regularly.
2018 summer workshop
The first day in our dorm during the 2018 summer workshop. Alyse and I had just arrived.
Alyse and I in our dorm during 2019!
The first day in our dorm during the 2018 summer workshop. Alyse and I had just arrived.
For the 2019 workshop, I participated in the sports writing class. Prior to this experience, I had never written a sports story nor was I particularly interested in sports. The class was taught by Rod Satterthwaite, adviser for The Campanile. The class focused on a variety of reporting styles. To the left is an example of a tweet I made about a local sports event we covered. We also learned about sports design and online coverage tools. I also wrote one of my first opinion articles which was later posted on The Emery. The work I did for the class resulted in me receiving an excellence award.
2019 summer workshop
My friends Abbey and Trinity from the Fentonian posing with me at MIPA's photo booth. Abbey and Trinity are photographers but I loved being able to work with a diverse range of journalists.
All of Huron's publications staff at MIPA's closing ceremony. We always have events just for our staff in order to strengthen bonds as the school year starts.
MIPA MEMORIES
MIPA's summer workshop is always held at Michigan State University for 5 days. The 2018 workshop was my first time attending and I was part of the Feature Writing and Reporting class. The class was taught by El Estoque adviser Julia Sattherthwaite. We focused primarily on short features as well as one longer group project. At the time, I struggled with creating solid leads and interesting transitions. The class taught me some ways to avoid cliches as well as how to connect with the readers. The workshop overall allowed me to connect with a lot of student journalists many of whom I still talk to regularly.
2020 summer workshop
As part of the "Best theme ever" class, every school represented had to present how they had furthered their theme. This is my presentation with Garrett Jin, The Enthymion's other Editor-in-Chief, where we outline our theme, divider, and cover concepts. While our work ended up changing a lot, the wok we did was a great starting point.
For the work I did at MIPA, I received two Spartan awards. The awards represent that I did the best work in the class. For the "Best Theme Ever" class, Garrett and I have a joint Spartan award as the work we did was as a team.
Before this workshop I had never designed a yearbook spread. As I learned quickly, newspaper design and yearbook design is very different. With feedback on these spreads I was able to develop my design for actual spreads. To the right is the mock spread I made
For the 2020 fall conference, I submitted a video to be used a resource to the journalists. In this video I talked about different inspiration that I used to create designs and ways that journalists can find examples of professional design. This is the first time I have "presented" at a conference but I think it was a great experience!
2020 fall conference
The MIPA cohort
The MIPA cohort consists of a variety of student journalists from all around the state of Michigan. I joined this cohort after the shutdown so I wasn't able to attend any of the in-person events but I still try to be involved as much as I can.
I was looking through some of my design inspiration one day when I had the idea to have a cohort-wide showcase. I presented this idea to the cohort advisor Elizabeth Cyr and she was thrilled. Students from a few staffs (including The Emery and The Enthymion) created a slideshow and presented it (shown to the left).
National Scholastic Press Association
In Nov. 2019, I attended the National High School Journalism conference in Washington D.C. I loved my entire trip as I was able to explore D.C., bond with my staff, and meet student journalists. My favorite sessions were about building online presence, feature storytelling, and publication funding. I also participated in a swapshop with students from California, Texas, and Illinois. Looking at their publications was inspiring and I saw how different we were despite all being on our newspaper staffs. To the right is a photo of me at the world war II memorial! Photo credit to Sara-Beth Badalamente.
This conference excited me for the future of our staffs and journalism as a whole. After seeing so many examples of student journalism, I came back to my own staff with ideas to improve and implement. Emery editors Maya Kogulan, Clara Bowman, and I built our editor Mentorship program based off of what we saw at the conference.
A screenshot from the 2020 NHSJC awards ceremony. The Emery ranked eigth for newspaper.
A screenshot from the NHSJC awards ceremony. The Emery placed tenth for website.
A screenshot from the 2020 NHSJC awards ceremony. The Emery ranked eigth for newspaper.
The 2020 NHSJC was held virtually. I appreciated this experience quite a lot because I was able to interact with other journalists but also come back to content that I hadn't looked at during the conference days. I spent most of my time in sessions about newspaper and yearbook design, refining news and feature writing, and guiding staff. I was also able to meet with Jeff Mofitt, a Jostens creative accounts manager. He gave me lots of ideas on my yearbook design and he ultimately encouraged Garrett and I to keep going with our designing and writing.
I won two individual awards, second for marketer of the year and an honorable mention in social media reporting.