Journalism day, also known as “J-Day”, is a one-day workshop for middle school and high school students, and their advisers, to better themselves in journalism. This convention taught students certain journalism skills that every writer needs to know. Journalism Day taught kids how to have a voice and express themselves. Abigail Vondy, editor-in-chief of the Eaton Red Ink, said, “[Journalism day] teaches kids that they can have a voice in their community and that they can do it in a way that gets other people interested.”

The schedule for J-Day is broken down into sessions and has an opening ceremony at 8:30 in the morning. Session one began at 9 a.m. and went over multiple lessons like podcasting and interviewing as well as how to cover sporting events and make a story stand out. The morning session started with the basics in journalism as it briefly covered the main events that high school students write about. With the basics covered, the students and advisers were ready to go to the advanced skills in the next session.

Session two began at 10 a.m. and covered more of the do’s and don’ts of all the skills. Session two went over what not to do in interviews and yearbook design and one session covered women’s views on sports media. Coming to the end of the day, students learned about designing and making stories eye-catching through multiple conferences and speakers who shared their ideas with the listeners. 

In the end, every student felt like their writing skills were better improved and that they were able to give more to journalism. The students and advisers found it very helpful and can’t wait until next year.