Students from Spelman college interview New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow.

Photo by Delaney Reaves

By Delaney Reaves

Editor-In-Chief

The Fall National College Media Convention, a journalism conference hosted in Atlanta, Georgia inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Oct. 29-Nov. 2 brought the like minded together. The conference offered more than 400 sessions, discussions and presentations over various topics, featured nationally known speakers and brought national networking opportunities for students, plus award ceremonies and work critiques.

The four-day event was sponsored by Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Association to bring the largest gathering of college journalists and advisors in the nation according to the convention’s website.

Students from all around the country attended the conference including sessions alongside peers and connected with other individuals who share the same passion: journalism and reporting the truth. Advisors from around the country also attended and had the chance to connect with other schools and participate in sessions geared towards advising.

Brooke Manuel, editor in chief of the Sul Ross Skyline student newspaper in Alpine, Texas was one of the attendees at the convention. Manuel said that attending the conference was an amazing experience, and she hopes to be able to come back for the next national event.

Manuel was a student attendee as well as a speaker during the conference. “Attending the conference as both a student and speaker was an amazing experience,” she said. “I loved getting to meet my colleagues from across the country and learning about how different student journalists run their newsrooms.”

Manuel spoke at the America’s Shame: The Silent Tragedy of Indigenous Women session on Oct. 31 alongside planelists Chelsea Curtis and Sheena Roetman.

In the main registration area, a media zone was set up to showcase newspapers and magazines from attending colleges at the conference. This space gave students the chance to talk with others about their designs, stories, and processes and to showcase their accomplishments.

National networking opportunities were given to attendees with several institutions and groups who interacted with students, answered questions and gave out information. Some of these included Gray Television, World Journalism Institute, Student Press Freedom Initiative and Live 365.

The conference attendees left with pages of notes taken during sessions, recollections of talking with other student journalists about their protocols and the opportunity to review other student newspaper issues. I was excited to be able to bring all of the information I have soaked in and documented back to NWACC’s student newsroom to apply strategies and ideas.

With this experience, I have been able to gain knowledge that will spring further into my college opportunities working at the student newspaper and a professional career in media that I am working to obtain. It equipped me with opportunities to connect and network with those in the world of journalism, professionals in the field, students and advisors.

I have come back to my home in Arkansas with gained friendships, inspiration and a drive to continue onward in the world of media. I’m glad to now share with others what I experienced and inspire others who also want to lead on this path. It also gave me various ways to learn about the craft, to further my knowledge and apply practices to my work and the work in the newsroom at NWACC.

Sessions I was able to attend included “Mapping the Newsroom of your Dreams” which encouraged breakout groups to brainstorm ways student newsrooms can improve their practices. In this session the groups looked at newsroom operations, revenue, products, policies and promotion/marketing to encourage students to share ideas that can be brought to newsrooms.

“Multimedia Journalism: A Day in the Life” session offered a glimpse into a career focused in multimedia storytelling and provided tips to get started. In this session students were able to see how the process of the career will look and how to get started early to develop the craft.

Aubree Curran, student attendee, holds the position of managing editor for the Foghorn News at Del Mar College, a public community college located in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“It was very interesting to not only meet people in my field at my level, in a collegiate level across the nation but also network myself with professionals in an organization,” Curran said.

Curran said one of her biggest takeaways from the sessions was that confidence is key and the importance of asking questions is valuable. She said that in the journalism industry networking is very important and that it is key in the field she works in. Being able to see what student media groups are working on across the nation was one highlight of her experience at the conference.

“It’s a really amazing thing being able to see everyone else’s work across the US,” Curran said, noting that the conference helped her connect with others. “Overall, I thought it was a really great opportunity to just meet everyone else and kinda see what is going on.”

Abisai Vazquez, writing and communications major from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia said he was able to bond with the group he traveled with throughout the trip.

“The highlight of my experience was getting to meet new and fascinating people from all over the country,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez said he didn’t know what to expect going into the conference; the initial impression of registration crowds overwhelmed him on the first day.

“I believed it would be chaotic and everything would be all over the place, but it turned out to be a very pleasant and slow-paced conference,” Vazquez said.

A tour of Georgia Tech’s student media center was offered to students; the tour brought several different college students together to talk and explore how Georgia Tech media runs. The media center hosts a radio show, prints magazines and newspapers, and maintains an online presence.

The biggest takeaway from this event is the massive learning impact it has had, the opportunity to learn from not only the speakers who attended but the students who shared their expertise and practices within their work.

Overall, the experience at the CMA was amazing to be a part of and I extend my gratitude to those who helped to give students like myself this opportunity to attend, learn and connect.