By Betty Morales Bravo, Staff Writer
You are 35,000 feet in the air on your way to St. Louis, Missouri, thinking about all the fun and exciting stuff you will do once you get there. There’s a boat ride on the Mississippi River. A trip to the top of the Gateway Arch and its amazing views. And most importantly, you will be able to learn more about journalism.
From Nov. 10-13, 20 FFHS newspaper and yearbook students went to the national high school journalism convention in St. Louis. Over 3,000 students came from all over the United States – and some even came from the American School in London – for this annual convention. My overall experience on this trip wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad, either. It was unique.
For me, this was my first journalism trip. It was also my first time flying on a plane. When I asked my family and friends what it was like to go on a plane, they responded with the same answer: They said it felt like a car ride, but in the air.
They never mentioned the very shaky and horrible landing you sometimes get to experience. Our morning flight from Norfolk to Baltimore ended with a horrible landing – it felt like we were about to crash into something. The second flight from Baltimore to St. Louis was way calmer and we were even given a free complimentary drink. What I did not enjoy about the plane flights at all was that you had to pay $8 for their WiFi.
Unlike everybody else on this trip traveling without family members, I was able to attend the convention with my sister, Daisy Morales, features editor for Nighthawk News.
Going on a trip with your sibling has its good and bad sides. Some good sides of this are that you always have someone to talk to, and when you forget something you can always borrow it from them. The bad side of this is that if you are the younger sibling like me, you will sometimes feel like you are being supervised by them.
When we arrived in St. Louis, we took a train from the airport to the downtown area, dropped off our luggage at the hotel and got something to eat near the convention center. Then we went on a small riverboat that gave us a tour around the Mississippi River. It was a great experience, but everybody was a little exhausted from the plane rides and having to be at the airport by 5 a.m.
Also on that first day, we attended the opening speech for the national convention, which included guest speakers from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. But at that same time, the playoff soccer game at FFHS was happening, so everybody was crowded around one phone trying to watch the game – and spot our photo editor for Nighthawk News, Taylor Newton.
Newton had an interesting adventure: He signed up for the trip in September, then watched as the soccer team kept playing better and better. It turned out that his fourth-round playoff game Thursday night meant that he could not fly out with us Thursday morning. But instead of missing the trip, he and his mom actually flew to St. Louis on Friday morning instead so he could join us for the last three days.
“It was really good because I was able to get like the best of both worlds and attend the soccer game on Thursday and fly out Friday morning,” Newton said.
We took journalism sessions at the convention center that included yearbook and newspaper sessions and even photography. The convention center was located right beside the hotel we were staying at. It was a nice advantage because it was really cold the whole weekend, so all you had to do was walk a few steps and you were there.
You were able to pick what sessions you wanted to take, but had to get there early to get a seat; otherwise, you would be standing. I enjoyed most of my sessions. The best session that I took was called “Ten must-have images of photojournalism.“ I was able to have a better understanding of a lot of things, and learned stuff I never knew about journalism and photography.
“I took a session on infographics which I thought was really interesting,” yearbook student Ruby O’Conner said. “Surprisingly, there’s a lot you can do with them. I also did a session on covering the unimaginable, which is about tragedy, and it provided a lot of helpful insight for what to do when you have to cover something like that.”
After lots of sessions and lunch Friday, we took a freezing 15-minute walk up to the Gateway Arch. Visiting the Arch and going up to the top were two different experiences.
When we were visiting, we were able to walk around and take great pictures. When going up the Arch, we had to enter through security. It felt as if we were in an airport again. We got to go through a small museum and then visit a gift shop with very expensive items.
Going up the Gateway Arch was exciting for some and terrifying for others. There were small elevators called “pods” that took us up in groups of five. The ride up the Arch was nothing like a normal elevator. It kept tilting and made a lot of weird noises. But it was worth it for the view we got to see. We went around sunset time and it was a beautiful view of the city from 630 feet up with the sunset in the background.
From going to sessions up to going to the arch we ended up in a grocery store called “Schnucks.” I think it was a really good idea to go to a grocery store and buy our drinks and food there instead of buying expensive ones at the hotel.
One of the best highlights of this trip for everyone came on Saturday, when we visited the City Museum. It included climbing, crawling and sliding, inside and outside, in a giant maze of an old industrial building. It even included a 10-story slide. For me, this was the best memory I created at St. Louis.
“My favorite memory was going to the City Museum,” Newton said. “It made me feel like a kid again. I was just running around in a huge playground.”
O’Connor also enjoyed the museum and all the other opportunities to explore a new city and “have fun hanging out together.” By the time we checked out of our hotel Sunday morning at 6 for the train ride to the airport and plane rides to Chicago and Norfolk, we were all tired and ready to be home.
My experience for this trip was great. I would definitely do it again if I had the chance – like next November’s national convention trip to Boston! There were some ups and downs on this trip, but it was part of the experience. I think everybody should experience going on a school trip at least once. You will be able to grow stronger relationships with your peers and make great memories.
Sophomore Betty Morales Bravo can be reached at [email protected].
