Newspaper, yearbook and broadcasting classes recently took a field trip to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to participate in the Kettle Morain Press Association Fall Conference. While at KEMPA, students were able to attend sessions to learn more about varying topics of journalism.

“The first session my group attended was about censorship among girls in journalism. It was about how female high school journalists could avoid censorship and fight for our rights. I went to this particular session because the presenter was Mary Beth Tinker. She was personally involved with the Tinker vs. Des Moine case,” said co-executive editor Nadia Hernandez.

This session was intended to be helpful in assisting women in interviews and in story writing in situations that may result in them being censored or prevented from writing about important or controversial topics.

“I enjoyed learning about what other women have gone through in terms of censorship and how they worked through it,” said staff reporter Natalie Smith.

Among other sessions, the students also attended a session about race relations and how to represent people in minority groups. It taught me how to write about all sides of the story and how to make sure I’m not overseeing people apart of those minorities,” Hernandez said.

“The Knight Times” student newspaper won an All-Kempa award at the conference as well. Journalism teacher Brenda Smith also received the award for Newspaper Adviser of the Year.

 “The awards were based off a critique system where we earned points in different categories and after those points were all added up we received an All Kempa rating which is the highest rating you can earn. The students put in a lot of hard work in terms of interviewing, story writing, and editing. They did a really nice job,” Smith said. “Winning the Adviser of the Year award was also very humbling for me as well. To know I won that award among my peers was a very exciting experience.”

The yearbook also received a second place award at the conference.

Several students also won individual awards in the individual contest:

Nadia Hernandez-Excellent in Feature Writing

Nadia Hernandez-Honorable Mention in Column Writing

Maggie Walker-Honorable Mention in News Writing

Ellen Stojak-Excellent and Honorable Mention in Editorial Writing

Heather Berelles and Mari Ang- Honorable Mention for Academic Spread

Emma Cowart-Excellent for Clubs Spread

Emma Cowart, Samantha Cocjin, Elizabeth Marino and Heather Berreles-Honorable Mention for Cover Design

Emma Cowart-Honorable Mention for People Spread

Emma Cowart-Honorable Mention for Student Life Spread

Emma Cowart, Heather Berreles, Samantha Cocjin- Honorable Mention for Student Life Spread

Samantha Cocjin and Elizabeth Marino and Mari Ang-Honorable Mention for Student Life Spread