By 9 a.m. on Nov. 7, Virginia Room C of the Marriott Wardman Park convention center was packed with high schoolers nationwide eager to learn about the increasingly popular topic of food journalism, the tips and tricks on how to start a cooking program, and the free salted caramel samples being offered.

Even though many audience members were even forced to sit on the floor, all of the audience displayed enthusiasm throughout the entire presentation, yet this had been achieved just by two high school seniors.

Jessica “Fred” Chang, Managing Editor for the TALON yearbook, and Priscilla Pan, Features Editor for the Winged Post, held the session today at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention discussing how they created their own website, In a Nutshell.

Aside from showcasing their own entrepreneurship, their main focus was to spark the interest of other reporters and encourage them to pursue their mutual passion for food.

“We want people to know that if they want to create something they can create it and they shouldn’t be hindered by any petty worries or anything,” Fred said.

The supportive attitude and interest from the audience created a generally positive atmosphere for the presentation. “I was just looking at a sea of people and they all just looked like they wanted to be there and it felt so great,” Priscilla said.

“I thought that Fred and Priscilla seemed happy and engaged in the topic and it was really infectious. The people around me and the people who were watching it were smiling and a lot of them were making comments about, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a good idea’ and taking notes,” said Ellen Austin, the advisor for the Upper School journalism program. “They would like to come back to a convention someday and see a bunch of food journalism projects.”

Lily Mahara, a sophomore from Charlottesville, Virginia was inspired by how much Fred and Priscilla  had achieved at such a young age.

“I think that it’s really cool that kids that are almost my age are doing [food journalism] and they’re doing pretty well. It kind of inspired me to not wait until I’m older and kind of just go at it,” Lily said.

To some, the session also served as a motivator and brought hope that journalism and food can blend well together.

“I was trying to do something on good food and that didn’t really work the first time around,” said Bradley Fargo, a senior at Kirkwood High School in Missouri, It was just like a food picture slash column thing so yea I’m definitely going to try to do more with it.”