My adviser, Leslie Orman, took over a crumbling program just two years ago, as I stepped into the realm of journalism. I was her first class of “journalism one” and I knew I felt something special. I went on later that year to become the first sophomore editor for our paper and on my first day as an “actual journalism two staff member” went to the Inauguration of President Obama as the only nationally credentialed high schooler.

When we attended our first convention together in St. Louis, we were sitting in a lounge when we noticed some black tags below some of the students regular badges. Throughout the weekend we would learn the journalism scholastic world would hold these students and their publications a step above the rest. They were Pacemaker finalists.

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One of the greatest ways to expand your knowledge of journalism and find new inspiration is to attend as many of the sessions as you can at this convention.

My students and I always gather as a staff late at night and spend a few minutes planning the sessions I think they should attend the next day. I also have them take notes to share with the staff on special notepaper I provide. I require that each student attend at least eight sessions and one keynote during the course of the convention.

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So to my surprise and probably to every other photographer at this year’s convention, there are hardly any sessions on photography.

It’s probably because, the judges are the photography teachers and they will be judging during all the sessions, but still… come on man, I feel left out.

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It’s nice to get out of town and check out yearbooks that I have heard about but have never seen.

So many times I hear about a book or see it as an award winner, but it’s nice to see the actual book and see why it received that award.

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When the tour was done, we were starving. So we walked down to Red Robin to eat. There was a lot of kids from the convention there, it was pretty neat.

When we finished eating, we went to the convention center so that we could register. We had to play Whamboozal!!! Most of us had played last year in Phoenix, so we were pretty excited to play again. It’s always a lot of fun.

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I ate breakfast today for the first time in about six months, and boy, am I glad I did. After a tasty blueberry muffin and six-ounce glass of apple juice, my comrades and I embarked on a four-hour tour, to visit Multnoma Falls and the rest of Portland’s beautiful natural surroundings. We were very lucky to have gotten the tour; my adviser scheduled it a mere 18 hours or so in advance. Thank you, Martin.

The second we all stepped on to that tour bus, a horrible stench that I’m not even going to try and describe overcame us. We were all upset about having to spend the next few fours in the smelly bus, but eventually, we became used to it. However, even if the odor had persisted, the sights we saw today would have been worth it.

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We got up at around 8 a.m. and went down to get some breakfast at the hotel. I usually never eat breakfast, and I have to say that this hotel’s breakfast was really good! Right after breakfast, we went back downstairs and got on a bus for a four-hour tour with Martin’s Gorge Tours.

It was a pretty long drive, but it was totally worth it. We stopped at Chanticleer Point and got to see the most amazing view. It’s pretty spectacular, we don’t have anything like that at home.

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Wow! On Thursday the most hopping booth at the convention was the Walsworth booth. I made friends with other yearbookers as they checked out ideas in yearbooks from schools across the country.

There were these awesome huge bean bag chairs that I’m pretty sure I want to bring home with me. Not sure how I am going to get them on the plane with me but I will figure out a way.

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