I always knew that I would be going back to one of my childhood towns one day. I didn’t know that it would be with my school newspaper staff, or that it would be Chicago. 

2:50 a.m.. I woke up with a start, hearing my alarm clock ring and becoming aware of the lack of light flowing into my room. I would be leaving for the Los Angeles International Airport in half an hour. After some last minute packing and putting on my newspaper sweatshirt, I stand in front of the door, waiting for my parents. I realize that I haven’t been back to Chicago for over nine years and that it is probably unrecognizable now. 

4:00 a.m.. I drag my suitcase to the familiar group of students wearing the same, silver hoodie on my person. We exchange good mornings sleepily and I say goodbye to my parents. My friend offers me an apple slice, which I take despite the amount of food I have in my carry-on to gorge. 

Fast forward to around 11:00 a.m.. I wake up to the familiar sound of ear-ripping rumbles from the plane. The captain comes on speaker and announces that we are going to land shortly. I strain my head from my aisle seat to see through the window, to which I make out millions of red-leaf trees spotting the land. I feel an overwhelming sensation of nostalgia. I’m back. 

The National High School Journalism Convention is the largest assemblies of student journalists in the United States and is sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. This semiannual event brings hundreds of interactive, informative sessions to participants with experienced speakers. Individuals like White House photographer Pete Souza traveled all the way to the heart of Chicago to prepare its participants for the unforgiving world of media and give their takes on how to progress through the world of journalism. I can say that this convention taught me things that I never would have learned if I declined to come. 

The journalism convention could be described in many ways, but to me, it was two things: chaotic yet mesmerizing. Every morning there were thousands of students packed into the escalators to attend classes like a school of sardines. I had to hold onto my friend for dear life as we wormed through crowds of people to get to our next session. At one point there were security guards regulating the escalators so there wouldn’t be trampled bodies spotting the convention floors. The classes I attended, however, made all of this chaos worth it. The sessions I went to allowed me to peek into a world of media that I have never experienced before. 

Two sessions out of the many I participated in still resonate with me. One was a presentation by a conflict journalist for the Washington Post, Jackie Spinner. During her hour-long presentation, she talked about her experiences overseas and covering wars in the middle east with her life on the line. Spinner talked about how she once had to write her name and blood type on each limb of body in sharpie, in case she ever lost a limb and need blood to survive. She explained how she never took her helmet off so that if she ever died from a landmine, her family can identify her. What I thought was absolutely amazing was that Spinner, despite all of these odds, continued to be at the frontlines and cover the war. She felt that it was her duty to show America what was really going on overseas––to show the truth. 

The other session was one by the advisors of the yearbook and newspaper staffs of Stoneman Douglass High School. My four friends and I literally had to push our way through the crowd to get in the room. Many, many students were forced to leave the session because of the room capacity. Once everyone settled down, the presentation started. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

Sarah Lerner used her hour-long presentation to show us her experience with the Parkland shooting and how she dealt with the repercussions. She gave us a vivid picture of her texting every teacher she knew to see if they were still alive, ushering her students to stay under the desks, the popping sounds of a gun going off in the distance, and the news of students, including her own, being injured and killed by a single man on campus. Lerner explained how she and her staff created the yearbook and how they honored the 17 individuals killed in this mass shooting. 

Her yearbook staff created a section in the yearbook dedicated to those who lost their lives in the shooting. Every individual was given a two-page spread with their photos and a description of the beautiful lives they led. I remember feeling this lump in my throat throughout this ordeal, seeing what these 17 individuals had and could have had. 

These two sessions, along with the other ones I took, continued to echo in my heart as I left for LAX on Monday night. 

national journalism convention 2
national journalism convention 3

The other session was one by the advisors of the yearbook and newspaper staffs of Stoneman Douglass High School. My four friends and I literally had to push our way through the crowd to get in the room. Many, many students were forced to leave the session because of the room capacity. Once everyone settled down, the presentation started. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

Sarah Lerner used her hour-long presentation to show us her experience with the Parkland shooting and how she dealt with the repercussions. She gave us a vivid picture of her texting every teacher she knew to see if they were still alive, ushering her students to stay under the desks, the popping sounds of a gun going off in the distance, and the news of students, including her own, being injured and killed by a single man on campus. Lerner explained how she and her staff created the yearbook and how they honored the 17 individuals killed in this mass shooting.

Her yearbook staff created a section in the yearbook dedicated to those who lost their lives in the shooting. Every individual was given a two-page spread with their photos and a description of the beautiful lives they led. I remember feeling this lump in my throat throughout this ordeal, seeing what these 17 individuals had and could have had.

These two sessions, along with the other ones I took, continued to echo in my heart as I left for LAX on Monday night.