National High School Journalism Convention comes to Minneapolis
The RubicOnline Staff had the opportunity to attend the in-state National High School Journalism Convention. Typically traveling around the U.S., this year it held many students from around the world in Minneapolis. The convention offered day-long pre-convention workshops and in the evening with the keynote speaker on Thursday, a full day of hour-long sessions on Friday and then Saturday had a mix of hour-long sessions and also held awards.
On Thursday, April 16, what began as a workshop quickly turned into an immersive introduction to the world of statehouse reporting. Alongside two fellow RubicOnline staff members and student journalists from as far as Hawaii and California, I had the opportunity to attend a pre-convention session at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention led by Ellen Austin. The workshop reframed statehouse reporting as an umbrella term for covering the systems that shape everyday life, not just politics, but the policies that directly affect the communities student journalists represent. The morning focused on local impact, as participants developed 10 story pitches rooted in their own cities and schools, while a video interview with Chicago-area school board member Susan Szafranski highlighted how background reporting on board decisions is essential for the student body. Following a legal briefing from Mike Hiestand of the Student Press Law Center, the group traveled via the Green Line light rail to the Minnesota State Capitol alongside Hennepin County officials Kyle Mianulli and Lindsey Wollschlager to discuss transit funding and budget transparency. After touring the historic building and meeting with Minnesota Public Radio journalist Dana Ferguson to discuss the realities of modern political journalism, the concept of statehouse reporting no longer felt abstract; it became an immediate and essential form of journalism rooted in accountability and community impact.
On Friday morning at 9am, I attended a break with a pro session, focused on Social Media. The session was led by Alec Fischer, a documentary filmmaker and Tiktok/Instagram influencer. There were six other students there, all current or rising social media managers for their school newspaper or yearbook, from varying parts of the US. We started off the session by going around and introducing ourselves, our role, where we’re from, and what our goal for the session was. I shared that my main goal was to learn about how to grow engagement across multiple platforms, as well as how to manage my time. Fischer started by sharing his personal experiences with social media, and his tips and tricks for time management and creating larger audiences. Everyone then had a more open discussion with each other, sharing what kind of posts we create, and then looked at each other’s platforms and gave advice to one another. In the end, because of both Fischer and the other social media managers, I left being much more informed of the tricks for success within the social media world, as well as with some great inspiration for future posts.
At the convention, Sonia, Elizabeth, Amanda and I as well as Lynn-Clara, the EIC of the Edina Zephyrus presented a convention workshop on Saturday. It was so inspiring and fun to give back to the journalism community at my last high school journalism event, especially after learning so much from conventions throughout my four years. Lynn-Clara actually reached out to us first, asking if we could work with her to share our experience covering the Annunciation shooting and Operation Metro Surge. I’m so grateful that she asked us and that we said yes, because it really was fun getting to know someone from a different publication and working together towards a goal. We met over face time 4 or 5 times and though I really enjoyed presenting, my favorite moments were the silly mistakes during our run throughs on face time and learning more about the Edina Zephyrus. The process also helped me reflect on my experiences in ways that I hadn’t before. After looking back, I really saw the impacts of my work in ways I hadn’t before we reported on the Annunciation walkout, especially how our story differed from the CBS story. I realized that as students, we were able to go much more in depth in our coverage and connect so much better with the students. Overall, this convention was so fun, more than I thought it would be, especially hanging out with other Rubi-seniors and spending quality time together before our last week ever.
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