Every year JEA (Journalism Education Association) and NSPA (National Scholastic Press Association) join together to host a national convention twice a year: once in fall with the last one being Boston and once in spring with this year being in Kansas City.
The K.C. convention took place between April 4-6 and LHS publications brought eight students and two teachers. These eight students were: senior Liz Hayes, juniors Lilly Brown, Caitlin McDonnell, Amber Sethaler, sophomores Ella Quinney, Meghan Lynch, Sara Ruhl, and freshman Ellie Simon.
Although this convention was not as far as most, fewer people from the LHS Publications attended due to it being prom weekend.
The students hopped on the Amtrak to get to K.C. It took about five hours to get there.
“It was fun, but it was long and really hurt my back. I would rather drive because it’s easier,” Lynch said.
During this convention, one of the events students participated in was the trade show. This is a trade show where many companies and colleges provide information and give out tons of freebies. Sethaler played a small game and won a free Stanley, which she ended up giving away to Brown.
“I was honored I won the Stanley cup, I just did not need another one to add to my collection,” Sethaler said.
On Friday and Saturday, students went to various sessions where they learned about things to bring back to the program. Two students got to teach their own sessions. Brown taught a session about social media and Hayes taught a session about broadcast.
“Teaching at Kansas City was really cool, it was the the fourth time I got to teach at the the national conference and I was more confident this time,” Hayes said.
One of the awards LHS Publications won was the First Amendment Student Press Freedom Award.
“The award recognizes private and public high schools that actively support, teach and protect First Amendment rights and responsibilities of students and teachers, with an emphasis on student-run media where students make all final decisions of content,” according to JEA from their website.
“This was a big moment for our program because it was recognized for the first time nationally basically proving that we are a student-led program. Our editors, myself, and our principal had to show proof that freedom of press is evident in our program. Our students have free speech rights and understand the responsibility this has,” LHS Publications adviser Jonathan Hall said.
Students also attended many different competitions ranging from photography to writing that a few also got awards in.
Below are all the awards won during this conference.
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Journalism Education Associations National Student Media Contest Awards
Ellie Simon- Excellent: Review Writing
Amber Sethaler- Honorable Mention: News Writing
Lilly Brown- Honorable Mention: Feature Writing
Ella Quinney, Meghan Lynch, Sara Ruhl, and Lilly Brown- Top 8: Quiz Bowl
National Scholastic Press Association Awards
Henry Sartain and Zander Killian- 3rd Place: Broadcast feature news story
2022-2023 Yearbook Staff- 6th Place: Overall Yearbook 232-276 pager
LHS Today- 7th Place: Overall Website
Sydney Davis, Lilly Fister, Ella Pinz, Grace Richardson- 5th Place: Yearbook Design
Liz Hayes- 5th Place: Editorial Leadership
Anna Simms- 3rd Place: Photojournalism Sports
Anna Simms- 8th Place: Photojournalism Feature
