On Friday, October 3, Journalism and Yearbook members ventured to Illinois State University for the Illinois Journalism Education Association Fall Conference. This conference is an opportunity for high school Journalism and Yearbook students to learn and grow different areas of journalism.
The day started off with the opportunity to tour Fell Hall, the home of Illinois State University’s award winning radio and news stations. Students were able to ask questions and meet some of the staff that runs TV-10, ISU’s news service, along with WZND Radio, the school’s radio show. After the tours, students were able to attend different sessions that sparked interest.
Different session options included:
- Entertainment journalism and walking through pop culture
- Photojournalism
- Social media presence
- Editing
- Fundraising
- Videography
- Story planning
- Writing tips
- Political writing
- Interviewing
After attending two sessions, students were able to listen to guest speaker Carol Marin, an extremely talented political editor at NBC5 News in Chicago. Carol has worked for CBS news magazines, along with the world renowned 60 Minutes. Before that, she was an anchor for both WMAQ-TV and WBBM-TV. She began her news career in Tennessee, where she investigated the former governor of Tennessee, Ray Blanton, where she revealed corruption, sending him to prison. Carol has won three George Foster Peabody awards, two Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia awards, two National Emmys, a George Polk award, a Gracie, and Sigma Delta Chi’s Ethics in Journalism award. Carol spoke on the importance and significance of youth voices and encouraged high school students to speak up against corruption in their schools.
Journalism and Yearbook students came back to class with a fresh perspective on the art of journalism and all of its aspects. Thank you to the IJEA for putting this on every year!
