Cookies, cake pops, brownies, and more! On Wednesday, Jan. 18, publication staff members held their very own bake sale to help fundraise for their trip to San Francisco, Calif., for the annual national spring journalism conference in April. 

From Wednesday through Friday, during the hour lunch period, students and staff members were welcomed and able to buy homemade baked goods. 

The bake sale was completely student-led with all homemade goods, and at least 30 students offered their help. Some items that were sold included gluten free cookies, chocolate chip, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, chocolate cake pops, vanilla cake pops, brownies and rice krispie treats. 

While the sale concluded on Friday, Jan. 20, the sale was an overwhelming success. Even a few items were completely sold out. Later that evening once everything was accounted for, the grand total came to around $847 raised.

“I’m actually really surprised with the outcome from the bake sale, I didn’t expect it to be as awesome as it was. It was a lot of fun to participate in. I’m really shocked, honestly, with how much money we were able to raise,” junior Sydney Davis said, who will attend the San Francisco trip.

There are 12 publications students who will be attending the convention and the price is over $1,000. The bake sale was then hosted and put together by seniors Julia Wiley and Alix Queen “to try and lower that fund and make it more student-available,” described by Wiley.

The funds will be distributed equally among those who helped out. The journalism convention gives students opportunities to gain more in-depth knowledge, by attending many classes/breakout sessions, hearing the keynote speaker, meeting with professional journalists, entering national writing competitions and networking with thousands of student journalists from around the United States. 

“I had an unbelievable amount of fun last trip,” said Davis, who attended the fall journalism convention in downtown St. Louis.

Liberty’s Talon yearbook has also been nominated for a Pacemaker award that will be announced at the convention. There were only 44 books in the nation that were nominated. The top 10 winners will then be announced later on at the award ceremony.

“This year we were nominated for a Pacemaker award, which is the Pulitzer Prize of high school yearbooks,” Wiley said.

Although the publications staff isn’t done yet, as for future plans on Jan. 19, they were given approval to have another bake sale at the talent show on Friday, Feb. 3 and 8th grade night here at Liberty on Feb. 15. Even some students have already requested to participate in those as well. “I would definitely help out again,” described Davis.

Stay tuned for Bake Sale the Sequel!