April 14-17, eight Yearbook students and Mr. Thomas Juran attended the National High School Journalism Convention co-sponsored by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) in Los Angeles. At this convention, more than 4,000 students from all over the nation came to participate in practical and professional learning sessions ranging from high-profile keynotes to specific, problem solving breakouts with hands-on workshops.

This year’s keynote speakers were Jose Antonio Vargas and Amara Aguilar. Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker whose work focuses on changing the American identity. He founded Define American and #EmergingUS both of which center on race, immigration and citizenship in America.  Aguilar, Apple distinguished educator and the California Journalism Education Coalition’s Journalism Educator of the Year, is an associate professor of professional practice in digital journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. She worked with the Annenberg Media faculty and students to develop JEDI (Journalism, Emerging, Digital, Innovation); JEDI embraces innovation and experimentation on emerging platforms. These keynote speakers provided great inspiration to the convention attendees.

The breakouts gave students all kinds suggestions to improve their yearbook including choosing a theme, eliciting quotes from interviews, designing advice and more.

According to Katie Smith (‘18), “One fun breakout session was called Confessions of a FONTaholic and it was all about different fonts and typography.” Another breakout session that was particularly interesting was based off of a journalist who is charge of the Humans of New York page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@humansofny on instagram or twitter).

Aside from attending the convention, students visited Hollywood, a few museums, Disney Hall, Chinatown, LA Live, the Grammy Museum. Katie Smith (‘18) says “I had such a good time because I was surrounded by people who all love to do the same thing- write and design.” She continued, “It was really such a good experience and it was so fun to meet a bunch of smart and dedicated journalists.” To sum up, the Yearbook trip to Los Angeles was a great opportunity for yearbook students to learn how to improve our yearbook and to make unforgettable memories.