Waiting outside a class on Saturday, Nov. 23, sophomore Alex Harlow poses at the National JEA convention in Washington D.C. Harlow got the opportunity to attend classes, connect with fellow student journalists and professionals, and explore the city during the four-day convention.

He attends Henley High School in Illinois where he is a staff member on a his school’s newspaper.

“[I joined staff because] I just really liked writing. I kind of want to pursue journalism, but I didn’t really want to do editing as like my first year,” said Harlow. “I think coming up with ideas can sometimes be hard. I don’t know why it’s just our school sometimes doesn’t always have the most happening so coming up with ideas is hard.”

Olivia Janik waits for her fellow staff mates in the halls of the JEA/NSPA fall national convention in Washington D.C. She attends Lyons Township High School in Le Grange, Ill., as a co-editor on her newspaper staff.

“I just always loved writing, so I always thought I would love to do something as a writer like maybe be an author or try creative writing, but I took journalistic writing as a sophomore and it just kind of felt right,” said Janik.

Janik’s favorite part about journalistic writing is being able to answers people’s questions and concerns. Her story about the ALICE program recently introduced to her own school gave her that opportunity.

“It’s a new idea for school safety and putting the power back into the hands of students if an incident like that was ever to arise,” said Janik, “It was something that everyone was talking about and everyone had questions about.”

Students Austin and Amelia traveled from Crozet, Va., to attend national journalism competition in Washington D.C. this weekend.

Amelia and Austin are both on their yearbook staff at Western Albemarle High School. Amelia is Editor-in-Chief and Austin is Design Editor.

“I joined it [yearbook] because I really liked journalism. I did newspaper before that and I really liked the leadership aspect, and I really liked doing design,” Austin said.

On Saturday, Nov. 23, senior Emma Hills waits outside a class at the National JEA convention.

“[I go to] Midland High School in Midland, Michigan,” said Hills.

She is the Editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, the Focus.This is her third year on staff. 

“I guess, like, overcoming the obstacles [is difficult], because you know, we’ll start working on the on paper and it’ll go really good and then something’s going to happen and it’s just like everything’s off.”

Senior Madison Ybay of Bellevue East High School waits for her next class to start. As Editor-in-Chief, Ybay makes a lot of important decisions about what goes into their newspaper such as, covering more about local issues and politics rather than fluff stories.

“I love being on newspaper because… it feels like we’re doing something important because especially now in like politics and everything. It’s important for people to actually report facts and report truth. It’s important that we speak on matters that are important, and that we need to inform the public about. That’s why I love being a journalist because I love giving people the knowledge to do the right thing so, they can make their own decisions,” said Ybay.

Makayla Vermir attends Bellevue East High School in Bellevue, Neb., as a co-editor on her newspaper staff. As she waits patiently in the halls of the convention hotel on Saturday, Nov. 23, she explains why she loves being on newspaper.

“All of us [on my staff] are really good friends and really close,” said Vermir, “It’s really easy to work with everyone.”

Vermir attended the JEA/NSPA fall national convention in Washington D.C. in hopes to learn more about what it takes to succeed in the career path she would like to follow.

“I actually am really interested in media law,” said Vermir, “I actually took the press law and ethics test here so hopefully I pass that.”

Senior Nolan DeGarlais goes to Mount Lake Terrace, in the state of Washington.

He enjoys writing and has been in journalism since seventh grade.

“I joined journalism initially in seventh grade because, while I was`walking through this elective fair before middle school, and I saw the journalism table and I was like,well, I kind of like writing,” said DeGarlais.

When Nolan was a freshman he joined his high school’s newspaper, and grew a passion for storytelling.

The Gamma newsmagazine copy editor senior Alexandra Thompson looks through a table full of newspapers for inspiration. Thompson is sad she will be leaving behind all the friends she has made on staff at Jefferson West High School.

“The best part of it is definitely talking to the people on the staff. I have so much fun with them. I have a really close bond with a couple of them in there. So we always have a good time together. [I’m going to miss] being with my friends, it kind of sucks,” said Thompson.

Thompson wants everyone to treat their newsmagazine with respect.

“It takes a lot of work and a lot of time and effort. It’s not like an easy thing to throw together, at all. So please don’t just look at it and immediately throw it away,” said Thompson.

Senior Julia Shannon-Grill from Burlington High School, in Vermont, attended the JEA/NSPA fall convention. Shannon-Grill spent most of the time working on journalism and did not venture out much.

“I’ve only seen the same block of it,” said Shannon-Grill.

Shannon-Grill writes for her school paper and was invited to the convention by the Student Press Law Center. Shannon-Grill joined the school paper when she was a sophomore and she has a goal to become a journalist.