On Wed., March 29, WHS journalism students traveled to the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo., for the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) Conference. J Day is an annual celebration of journalism. Nearly 1,600 students, including our very own Blue Jays, were in attendance—a record-breaking high for the event.

The day consisted of a keynote speaker, three 50-minute sessions and to end the day, an awards ceremony.

The keynote speaker for the 2017 MIPA Conference was John Beaudoin. Beaudoin spoke about getting rid of fake news and keeping politics out of journalism. There were 35 different options to choose from for sessions—and three were to be chosen to go to for the day. A favorite session of the journalism students was “The Power of Positivity.”

“We [the yearbook staff] love each other, but we can have difficulties in high stress situations, so I think that session was good for us to attend,” junior Makenzie McFarland said. “It taught us not to talk negatively about journalism and be positive. We’re all working toward the same goal, which is having the book turn out good.”

Going to the three sessions was an opportunity for the journalism students to progress in their work and realize the impact they have on the world.

“Since we went to three different sessions,” McFarland said, “we got to meet three different journalism experts, and I think that’s my favorite part—meeting these people that invest their lives in the journalism career.”

Going to MIPA not only benefitted WHS journalism students, but others too. And at the awards ceremony, they got to see their hard work pay off. The journalism program as a whole went home with 46 awards.

“[Being apart of an award winning program] is something I’m extremely proud of,” junior Jaden Heien said. “I love Blue Jay Journal, and I’m so happy that I get to represent our school by being on staff.”

As the journalism program continues, they plan to not dwell so much on the past and the awards, but on the future and what they can do to get better.

“Winning awards is obviously super rewarding,” Heien said. “But learning over the years from previous staff members and current staff members, as well as our adviser, is truly the best part.”