State Journalism

This is my first year on Newspaper and I miraculously qualified for State. It was held at the the school of Journalism at the University in Lincoln. Going into the day...I really had no idea what to expect. At the end of the day, well, I did.

First off, we had to leave school at the unholy time of 7.15. The competition started at 9 and it is a 45 minute trip. Why must we leave so early?!?! It's Monday! Of course, Howe is a morning(-ish) person and was fine while he had his coffee cup.

We rode a bus. Although, we all unanimously agreed that it was unnecessary and excessive to get a bus for 9 nine. Nine. But, hey...we just let Howe do what he pleases.

When we got to Lincoln, we sat around for a while until the first round of competition began. The people who didn't have a session first round (including me) walked the three blocks to Starbucks. Mmm...coffee.

After wasting an hour there we walked back to the School of Journalism and prepared for competition.

Showtime.

I walked into the room - a computer lab - and sat down. The proctor took role and made sure we were all in the right place. Then we really began.

We had one hour to write a news story based on the notes and interviews we were given.

I don't write that fast...ever.

So, needless to say, it was an interesting hour of me typing furiously and trying to absorb all of the information from the interview and background information we were given. I did not like it much because I had no personal connection to the interviews, no sense of who the subjects of the story were so I felt really disconnected from the story. Also, the topic was boring.

When the hour was up, I breathed a sigh of relief, and went off to lunch.

We went to Noodles and Co. It was delicious.

After lunch we sat through a really long and boring awards ceremony. I ended up placing 6th in the news category, which was a big honor and a surprise as most people up there were seniors and I am a first-year newspaper student who is a sophomore. I got a medal...it was shiny.

We left the ceremony early because it got really boring and tedious. It was hot and humid outside and the bus was nearly unbearable. I got all sweaty and gross on the ride back to school, and literally ran into the air conditioning to cool off when we got there.

I had originally planned for this to be much more interesting, funny, and include pictures, but unfortunately I am drowning in school work because I am three days behind.

So, I have to go back to History and Math projects now. Until tomorrow lovelies!