Phoenix Journalism Convention – Day 1

Posted on Apr 15, 2009 in Life, Volunteering | 0 comments

For the 12th year (or so), I’m privileged to be chaperoning the students of the award-winning Mountlake Terrace High School newspaper, the Hawkeye, to a National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and Journalism Educator’s Association (JEA) national convention. (Read my accounts of the last year’s convention or 2007′s.) The spring convention, held on the west coast, is usually better-attended than the fall convention; this time it’s being held in Phoenix.

Our delegation comprised 10 students, adviser Mark Isakson, adviser emeritus (and current president of the Washington chapter of the JEA) Vince DeMiero, myself and Julie Barker, another chaperon. As usual, the first day was mostly dedicated to travel. We met at the school, took a school bus to the airport, where we boarded an Airbus to head to Phoenix. Security wasn’t a problem and though the flight was bumpy, we made it safely. It was one student’s first time on a plane and he said he enjoyed it. (I suppose if you’ve never flown prior to 9/11 you wouldn’t remember the “good ol’ days” of air travel.)

A quick SuperShuttle ride brought us to the Phoenix Wyndham Hotel, which is quite nice. It’s downtown, about two blocks from the convention hotel. We checked in and grabbed dinner (Thai for some, Subway for others), had a quick meeting in the lobby and turned in. Thursday we’ll check into the convention, get our registration materials, attend some early sessions and the opening keynote before the deluge of sessions and write-offs on Friday.

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