By Erica Suarez
As we were on our way to South Dakota State University to our first experience at the South Dakota High School Press Convention, our excitement towards a chance of winning our first journalism award was high and our learning experiences were also going to be advanced a step further. As our anxiety level rocketed, we also had wishful thoughts on getting awards for all of our hard work. Once we arrived, we met with other schools that were also there to learn and expand their minds to other knowledge they had not yet known.
As the speakers taught us different things about writing techniques and how we could become better and more knowledgeable writers, we listened with great intentions to learn the things that will improve our skills in writing. Being in journalism makes us a better writer, because we learn that proper sentence structure and fluency is key to helping the readers understand the writing.
   The Press Convention also taught us the importance of writing and how it takes a great part in the world today, such as in the media industry where different types of journalism are published on the internet like in blogs, Web sites and also in magazines. The Press Convention’s speakers also taught us about the creative things we can do in photography. The littlest details can change the whole meaning of a photo into something more than what was intended. Photographs can be turned into beautiful pieces of art if we put hard work into it and use helpful techniques. For example, just focusing on certain details and taking pictures at different angles can give pictures a little more of a special effect.
Another thing that we learned there and is quite helpful to know in journalism, is being enthusiastic and showing it well in your writing and photography. Putting all of your heart into your work while enjoying what you are doing will give you a better outcome and an excellent overall result. If we try our hardest in our work, we will feel satisfied with what we have accomplished knowing we did our best.
As a result of last year’s hard work and dedication, the journalism class was awarded with a 2012 Annual Publications Contest’s Excellent Work Award. This award has raised our expectations for next year’s Journalism Convention, and has motivated us to try harder and use our newly-found knowledge to place higher in the awards. It has also helped us become better writers and photographers, which is truly the goal of both the Press Convention and our own journalism class.
Currently, we have now been focusing on the other academic activities and have been writing better stories about them. We take into consideration the hard work other students put into their extracurricular activities and support them by acknowledging them and making them known to others. Overall, journalism has given us a great opportunity to become excellent journalists and has taught us many things we need to know in regards to our writing, photography and inspiration.