On Monday, November 6, 2017,  journalism students had the opportunity to visit the 78th annual Columbia Scholastic Press Conference in New York where they sat in on multiple conference sessions led by presenters who advised students on specific topics on journalism and publications. Journalism teacher, Jonathan Ringel, who accompanied students on the trip says, “The conference is great because instead of just learning about journalism from me, kids can learn about it from real industry professionals. It can be very inspiring.”

Students arrived at 8:15 a.m. on Monday and departed to different buildings of the Columbia University Campus to attend the first presentations of the morning. I participated in three sessions, all different topics but equally interesting.

One titled “Land an Internship While Still in High School” was extremely eye opening and helpful. Myrtle Jones, who led the conference, disclosed how she “stalked” businesses and business owners to get her way into internships. Sound aggressive? Well, she used the term “stalked” loosely, but did her best to emphasize the importance of putting yourself out there and getting what you need together while still in high school. Junior Elizabeth Santoro said, “Attending the ‘Land an Internship While Still in High School’ session really helped me to as what I need and don’t need for my portfolio.”

After strolling through Manhattan’s Upper West Side looking for things to do and places to eat, my friends and I returned to attend our final conference session of the day, “How to Be More Creative.” The title might suggest that it wasn’t all that creative, but the presentation itself was very entertaining. The class was the most popular one I attended. It was so full that the 4 of us lined up against the back wall of the big classroom and sat on the floor for the full 45 minutes. Presenter Sean Kelly, award-winning visual journalist incorporated comedy and plays on words, including his presentation of his “slides,” where he put up pictures of film slides, playground slides, baseball slides, and even economic slides.

The press conference was insightful and many students reported that they had enjoyed their trip, Junior Lalith Goli said, “I had a fabulous time, the lion was very cool.”