By Ciara Barstow
Staff Writer

Eleven members of the Ghostwriter staff flew to Washington D.C. early Thursday morning, November 6th to attend the National High School Convention, sponsored by the National Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association.

During the four days, the staff stayed in our nation’s capital, staff members Lauren Cullen, Kathleen McAleese, Alok Ganguly, Ellie Smith, Ciara Barstow, Madie Blais, Peter Conway, Andrew Friel, Adele Rouanet, Alisha Sabnis, and Haley Verre, along with advisers, Janet Fonden and Jack Holbrook, were granted opportunities to learn about the craft of journalism, develop individual skills, and bring their experiences to the meetings to improve upon skills in the area of journalism.

Students went to multiple workshops which allowed the staff to exercise writing, photography, layout, storytelling, and multimedia skills. Apart from stationary workshops, students also visited monuments and shared work and experiences with other students.

The Ghostwriter staff  traveled via the Metro to the Newseum, where they visited pieces of the history captured by professionals and were graced with a balcony view of the city before the rain hit.

On the way back, decked out in clear plastic ponchos provided by the Newseum the group made their way back to attend a keynote speech with none other than Bob Woodward, a reporter who lead the Watergate investigation.

Taking seats in the very last row in a room with over 6,000 young journalists eager to hear the Woodward, technical difficulties with the audio equipment made Woodward’s speech barely audible to the audience.

“It was really cool to have Bob Woodward at the conference because we got to see someone who was involved in Watergate,” said Features Editor Smith, “but I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t really hear him speak.”

Although the audio failure was a letdown to those who looked forward to hearing Woodward’s words of wisdom to young and aspiring journalists, in a heroic effort from Holbrook and an adviser of another publication, the two went up to Woodward onstage and asked him directly to “speak into the mic.”

The next day was crammed with workshops with guest speakers including journalists, news anchors, writers, and teachers, as well as open sessions where journalists could dabble in the various areas of the field while granted freedom to socialize and experience the city as well as the cultures the people and other schools brought to it. There were hundreds of workshops and presentations, both educational and inspiring.

“Seeing all of our staff members working their hardest and make advances in any measure is always an awesome experience to be able to witness,” said Co-Editor-in-Chief McAleese. “I went to a workshop given by a teacher in Missouri that was in Ferguson soon after Michael Brown was shot and his insight was phenomenal regarding how the media could possibly have missed certain angles that he was able to see. The scene in Ferguson is so profound, so to be able to hear an eyewitness talk about his encounter was so interesting.”

As well as the students that attended, there were learning opportunities for the adults attending the convention as well.

“I personally learned a great deal about critiquing student work, review writing, feature writing, and improving our website,” Fonden said. “It is great to collaborate with other journalism teachers from around the country.”

The write-off competitions for each students assigned category took place during these hours, and again students had freedom to visit more workshops or to tour the city. While some of the staff involved in the Online News Package write-off were sent to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park to find a story, the members already done with their competitions visited the zoo on a leisurely excursion.

After a long day of learning and excitement, the staff heard from guest speaker Jay Harris, an anchor for ESPN’s SportsCenter. With the audio equipment back to its normal functionality, he offered advice for the writers eager to get a shot or snag a quote.

Saturday was another day of workshops, but began with a publication exchange. The Ghostwriter print edition of last June had been brought to the meeting with each person having at least ten copies. Nearly all of them were taken. Students received many copies of other schools’ papers, with the intent to learn from other publications.

Later during the day, several members of the team attended a critique, where the Ghostwriter website received constructive criticism.

Sunday wrapped up the convention with the awards ceremony, during which 829 awards were handed out. Following this event, the team toured the city as a group, visiting monuments and making memories.

“I think the trip was wonderful. It was great to see my students motivated and inspired to learn and improve our newspaper,” said Fonden. “The team grew together and got to know one another, which I am sure will prove to be beneficial. […] I am looking forward to next year’s convention and learning even more.”