By: Karalee Kothe

The trees were in full color on the east coast when Jehna Powell (15), Karalee Kothe (16), Hannah Olson (17), and Isaiah Cordova (17), with their advisers Deirdre Jones and Merri Kirby, flew to Washington D.C. to the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention from Nov. 6-9. The JEA convention is the largest gathering of high school journalists in the nation with 6,200 students in attendance. Thursday night included the keynote speaker, Bob Woodward, and his wisdom as one of the journalists who cracked the Watergate Scandal in 1972. Students attended workshops on Friday and Saturday morning to improve as a yearbook and newspaper staff and get new ideas for their publications. Cordova said, “I’ve learned how to improve a lot of things about my writing and how to run a website.” Jones taught a workshop called, “When the ACLU comes to call” about EHS students exercising their First Amendment rights. Jones told the story of the 1997 “Alternative Homecoming” incident at Eaton High School and asked students what lessons could be learned from it. “It was so humbling presenting at the same time as Marybeth Tinker,” Jones said. “This is about her legacy.” Jones said she was excited her students could see and experience such high caliber speakers and workshops. “Its good for kids to get out of our little town and see real people in real newspapers who are passionate about what they do,” Jones said. Dedicating the afternoons for sightseeing, the group toured the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the Holocaust Museum. Overall, Powell said, “Meeting others who like the same things as me influences me to keep taking pictures and writing people’s stories.”