As the Wakeland Prowler Yearbook and Wakeland Access team build our yearbook and write weekly articles, they must continue to expand their storytelling. Unfortunately, strict deadlines make constant innovation difficult to prioritize. So from November 2 to November 5, our Wakeland Prowler Yearbook and Wakeland Access team took a trip to Boston to participate in the biannual national high school journalism convention.

Sponsored by both the National Scholastic Press Association and the Journalism Education Association, the convention featured seminars, lectures, and contests. Notable seminars include 32 Ways to Share Everyone’s Story Visually.

“[The] guest speaker gave a ton of module ideas that I was able to bring back to our staff and book. I’m really excited to be able to apply what I learned to my own work with the yearbook,” senior Wakeland Prowler Yearbook Editor Samantha Buckley said.

The seminar titled Break With a Pro offered a rare opportunity for the team. Students were able to talk one-on-one with a professional in the field they are planning on working in. For example, junior Wakeland Access Editor-In-Chief Sayde Blanchette had a conversation with a copy editor.

“He just told us a lot about what being a copy editor really means and the importance of different things in news writing,” Blanchette said. “He also said that sometimes when people can’t get basic English right, he’d get up and scream at everyone for being idiots.”

In order to attend the event, all participants had to compete in a contest. Under categories spanning from Sports Writing to competitions over yearbook copy captions, students had to answer a prompt in the allotted time.

“We listened to different speakers speak about a women’s football team, and then after about 30 minutes of them speaking about it, we had a 15 minute interviewing period,” senior Wakeland Access Editor-In-Chief Josh McDaniel explained. “We had a little over an hour to write a story about the football team.”

In their contests, Blanchette and Wakeland Access Reporter Audrey Chapin received honorable mention and excellent awards, respectively.

The weekend was not just spent on work though. Once the convention ended each day, the team was able to do some sightseeing such as seeing Fenway Park.

“Going through the press room, going through the control room, and seeing all that they had there was really interesting,” junior Wakeland Prowler Yearbook Staff Member Ella Olfers said.

To conclude, the Wakeland Prowler Yearbook and Wakeland Access team’s trip to Boston had a short term impact as well as potentially a long term one. Since their return, they have been working hard to improve their reporting by implementing what they learned.