DIAL yearbook attended the National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville TN, November 12th through the 16th. The staff had to sell $600 in yearbook ads to be able to attend. The members that went: Emma Kate Bloodworth, Kade Brantly, Josh Baughman, Grace Honold, Kaelyn Viernum, Elijah Wampler, Annie Hutchcraft, Chandler Allen, Lariah Marshall, Emilio Isspeih, Ms. Sears and Mrs. Jones. The goal of the conference was to help expand the yearbook staff’s knowledge on all aspects of making a better yearbook.
They started the trip off by leaving promptly at 4pm Wednesday the 12th departing from CCHS. The group got a little hungry so they all collectively decided to get Chick-Fil-A and Crumble in Paducah KY. At 7pm they arrived at the Opryland Gaylord Hotel/Resort in Nashville TN.
Thursday, November 13th is the very first day of the conference starting at 1pm. This day was focused on registration and the college fair they had going on. This consisted of tables upon tables of colleges that were there through the college of journalism. Multiple tables had giveaways that you could enter with a simple email. After the group was done with the fair, they went back to each other’s rooms to get ready for shopping and dinner.
A quick uber ride found themselves at the cheesecake factory located within the mall for easy shopping. Then they went back to the hotel and were able to explore the convention center before the 11pm curfew.
Friday, November 14th, the convention gets off bright and early at 9am. You were able to pick your own schedules that you found most interesting to yourself. There were about 3,000 kids plus chaperones all attending. Some break out rooms were at max capacity, so they had to find different ones, but they were all informational to help themselves with the yearbook. At 11am they took a break to grub on some lunch, Stax’s burger was a big hit.
Some sessions you took notes while others had you up and moving around helping you with all thing’s camera related. At 3pm the day was over, and it was time to go back to rooms to get ready for the night part of the trip. A different mall was chosen but unfortunately with so many fights that have broken out there were cops at every entrance prohibiting kids from entering unless with an adult over 21+. Every adult over 21+ could only have 4 kids. The kids outnumbered the adults in this case so the group couldn’t shop.
Saturday, November 15th, schedule was the same as before, but lunch was different. The walking taco which is everything as it sounds. A taco in a bag with all the good toppings.
The conference ended at 3pm and very shortly after that we hopped on the bus to come back to CCHS. The bus stopped at the Jostens plant where we get the yearbooks every single year and Noodle and Company for some delicious desert. The bus arrived around 8pm and everyone made it home safely.
There were some key takeaways from the conference.
“I learned how you need to work as a team to create a yearbook, everyone’s job is important to create something great.” Said EK.
