Middletown High School’s Quill & Scroll International Honorary Society recently went on a trip to Orlando, Florida. The group was there to attend the JEA/NSPA Journalism Convention. After the convention, they took a trip to Disney World.
On Nov. 12 the students flew to Orlando. Upon their arrival, they went to The Dolphin Hotel to listen to the keynote speaker, Sports Illustrated reporter Andy Staples.
“I’ve never liked anything I’ve ever written, I’ve hated some less than others,” said Staples as he explained that no one loves their work. He said that this was okay, because it allows reporters to continually grow in their work.
At the convention, the students each visited sessions of their choice to learn new things about working in the journalism field.
“I loved the session called ‘Full Court Press’. It showed that the public may not know about everything you write, so you should give a brief explanation. It also gave great ways to make sports articles interesting,” said MHS senior Evan Moreland.
“The session about social media and broadcast journalism was inspiring because I was able to recognize that this is the industry for me. All of that is a huge part of the future of journalism,” said MHS senior Frankie McLister.
That night, the students had the choice of going to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in Disney World or the Magic vs Jazz basketball game.
“Best night ever,” said MHS sophomore Owen Migdal about his night. He attended the Very Merry Christmas Party and claims he “could not have had more fun.”
The students had a total of two days at the convention. While Friday was only a half-day, they had a full day of sessions on Saturday.
“My favorite session was on Saturday. I learned to pull inspiration from the Humans of New York blog to come up with new story ideas,” said MHS sophomore Hannah Prensky.
“Being at those sessions let you experience new perspectives on journalistic coverage and the media’s purpose,” said Migdal.
“A big thing that I learned was to have a conversation in an interview. You are in control of the interview, you should make the person feel comfortable,” said MHS sophomore Freddy Roberts. “These sessions greatly prepare you for the future of journalism.”
After the convention, the group went to Disney Springs where they enjoyed a dinner together. There, they discussed what they learned.
“Being able to spend time with the group like this seemed to make RT stronger and helped come up with many ideas of things we can pursue together,” said Moreland.
“There was a great balance of the convention and enjoying Disney. Overall, the trip made Quill & Scroll members come together for a common purpose of learning new things for journalism, which I think was really good for us,” said Roberts.
“There are different ways to be successful, being able to network and learn from other people with the same passion is a great way to success.” said McLister. “I definitely learned that this is the industry for me.”
To watch a video about the convention click here
