Journalism students travel to Anaheim NSPA convention

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By Lorin Enns

Small World!/ Journalists and publication students pose for a photo in front of Disney’s California Adventure Park. They attended the NSPA conference that weekend. Photo courtesy Ms. Aguiar

Students of Mrs. Thompson’s news and yearbook staffs, along with students in the journalism foundations class, traveled to Anaheim, California to participate in the annual NSPA convention on Thursday, April 25. Journalists from all over the valley were in attendance, including Green Valley and SWCTA, who accompanied Coronado on the trip.  While students enjoyed the conference, they also took the opportunity to enjoy a day in Disney’s California Adventure Park and two days in Disneyland. Journalists spent their time enjoying one another’s company and celebrating the nearing end of the school year.

“The classes were a pretty cool part of the trip,” sophomore Trenton Lane said. “I enjoyed having the freedom to do what I wanted with my friends inside the park.”

Trip attendees awoke in the morning and walked from their hotel rooms to the Anaheim Hilton hotel where they attended the classes. Featured guest speakers included Ann Herold, a veteran of long-form journalism and a former USC student and professor, Elizabeth Aguilera of CALmatters, Florida Scholastic Press Association District 2 director Michael Malcolm-Bjorklund and numerous others. Following classes each day, students explored Disneyland with their classmates, giving them time to build new friendships and bond with incoming staffers.

“Attending the classes made this trip a success for me,” junior Lexi Petrozza said. “I took classes on design and coverage that were very helpful and gave me ideas for next year’s yearbook. I got the opportunity to bond with the yearbook and news team staffs outside of school.”

The annual NSPA conference is an opportunity for student journalists from across the country to attend lectures and meet with notable members of the journalism/yearbook community. Coronado news and yearbook classes have attended journalistic conferences for years, including last year’s convention in San Francisco and the CSPA conference held at Columbia University in New York City, which took place in March of this year. Traveling to Anaheim marked the last of Thompson’s school trips, as she comes to the end of her final year of teaching.

“This trip allowed me to learn in different classes from the professionals and people who are also passionate about journalism,” news team co-editor-in-chief Bryce Becker, sophomore, said. “I was able to sign up for various classes and see how other schools run a news website and how we can improve ours. This has also shaped the future of this class, as it provides more inspiration for us.”

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News Editor Lorin Enns has a knack for news and a love for writing. As a senior, Lorin is making the most out of his last year on the news staff with Mrs. Thompson and his peers. He enjoys playing instruments such as the viola, guitar, and ukulele, as well as working as a sound tech at a theatre company outside of school. Along with an appreciation for wordplay, Lorin has a great sense of humor and loves to make people laugh.