The newspaper staff took their annual field trip to the Southern Illinois School Press Association (SISPA) conference Feb. 22  at SIU-Carbondale. The students felt good about going into the competition. 

“I feel like having gone last year, and having competed in State last year gave me some good practice for the on-site competitions,” junior Francesca Messerschmidt said. 

It was their second year going to the conference for some members of the staff. There were also a few students that it was their first time going. 

“I was nervous going into it, not knowing what to expect, but I’m so glad I had the opportunity to go,” senior Ellie Rann said. “I enjoyed competing against others from different schools and look forward to attending another journalism competition soon,” 

The students won awards on both the content that they had mailed in and work created during the on-site competition. 

“I received first place award for overall best layout which was shared with the rest of my team, I also received second place for best alternative storytelling and third place for best center spread story package,” sophomore Sarah Girtman said. 

There were a lot of different competitions that the students could choose to compete in, but each student could only compete in one competition. 

“I competed in the editorial cartooning competition,” senior Bailee Clifton said. 

Attendees felt there is a lot to learn from competitions. For example, students can learn what they are good at and what they don’t like to do. 

“I learned that there are many different ways to express myself throughout the photos that I take and that sometimes I have to show myself through the lens of my camera, instead of just finding someone and taking a picture,” junior Riley Mize said.