Journalism students travel to New York City for annual CSPA conference

Subways, sessions, and street pretzels comprised the last five days for the seven journalism students and two chaperones who attended the annual Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) conference in New York.

The conference was held Wednesday through Friday at Columbia University and gave journalism students from around the world an opportunity to attend a variety of lectures presented by some of the most influential journalists in the scholastic field. The lectures covered topics ranging from writing, photography, and design to leadership and ethics.

 

“I really liked John Cutsinger’s session of Yearbook design because we not only learned all the details and concepts of design, but we also learned yearbook yoga, which is supposed to calm you down when faced with the stress of meeting deadlines,” Ashley Zhong (10) said.

Although sessions are usually held solely by invited journalism professionals, juniors Jessica Chang and Priscilla Pan had the opportunity to present on food journalism. Before the conference came to a close, director of journalism Ellen Austin received one of CSPA’s Gold Key awards.

In the evenings students used their free time to explore New York City. They toured the New York Times printing press, shopped Chelsea Market, dined at an authentic family Italian restaurant, Piccolo Angolo, explored Times Square, saw The Lion King on Broadway, and sipped frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity 3.

A group of journalism students will attend the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association (JEA/NSPA) conference in San Diego over spring break, April 9 through 12.