Journalism Day (J Day) is a statewide student journalism conference that is held at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Students from all over the state come to attend seminars that cater to their own specific interests and needs regarding their field in journalism (news, broadcast, podcast, and yearbook). 

I spoke with some students about J Day and how they felt about the event.  “I’m excited. I think it’s definitely a very new experience, and it’s providing a lot of insight to different parts of what journalism and yearbook entails,” said Siena Scornavacco (‘26) from Fairview High School. 

“J Day is a really positive environment. You’re going to see a lot of fellow minds along[side] you. The teachers are very experienced. It feels very hands on,” said Carter Tullio (‘23) of Eagle Crest High School. 

As the only freshman exclusively on the newspaper and not MavTV this year, J Day was an interesting testament to how important my job as a student journalist is, especially living in Colorado .

Myself as well as my friend who lives with me had to wake up a lot earlier than usual. Once we arrived at the school, we were greeted by car trunks filled to the brim with breakfast snacks, drinks, and miscellaneous car trunk junk. The quiet nature of the trip there was very calm — which in the grand scheme of things is exactly what I needed.  

We arrived at the campus, where we found the main building, the Lory Student Center, leading to the J Day lobby. Inside, student journalists filled every inch of the floor. As we awkwardly stood around looking for any other journalists on The Mav staff — like children lost in the frozen food section in Costco — we found that Ms. Hedlun, our adviser, had set up camp in a lounge spot. Once we had all touched base and gone to the opening ceremony, it was already time for our first sessions. Mine was “Covering Tragedy”.

After a small group of attendees and I navigated the halls, we reached the tight, compact room that the session was in.  I sat close to the front where I saw the presenter, and by the look on his face, I knew this wasn’t going to be good.  This presentation was centered around the Marshall Fires, the unbelievable disaster that took place Dec. 30, 2021. This fire ravaged over 900 homes, burning everything to the ground, leaving thousands of residents of Louisville without anything besides what the presenter explained as, “What they could grab, and the clothes on their backs.” The presentation dove deep into how the fires affected the community and how Monarch High School chose to cover it.  It was the most powerful speech I’ve ever been to; I was in ugly tears by the time I was shaking his hand at the end.

My next session was the campus tour. We got to explore the media department and meet a bunch of people who work on the award winning campus news, radio, and broadcast.  The department was definitely meant for maybe 20 people max, yet somehow we jammed 40 high schoolers into their main office area. As we crammed through the tiny hallways, we moved into the radio room where we all got to go live on air and scream the slogan for the show, and I got to request a song: “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix. The studio looked as if a music store threw up on every surface possible: walls, ceilings, decorations, etc. We left and went to the broadcast studio, the main studio where the show happens. We got to take pictures at the main broadcasting tables and explored the studio as a whole.

Finally, I arrived at a seminar for storytelling with a very lively and funny host. He explained how literally anything can be a story, all you need to do is ask, “Why?” He used coffee as his key point, acting as if his love for coffee was a huge deal and was one of a kind. He explained how even a simple sentence such as “I like coffee” can be turned into a story by simply asking, “Why?” With that, he explained his love for coffee because he needed to be able to work more often. Because of that, he fell into a debilitating caffeine addiction; now it’s a whole lot more interesting.

Our day ended strong with the award ceremony. All together, we won the Best in Show for Online News and the “All Colorado” critique, which is the absolute highest rating you can get in the whole of the state. Then, Executive Director of the Colorado Student Media Association Jack Kennedy had a few words of congratulations to all of the winners of the competition. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he began singing like a preacher from the podium, belting a tune about our First Amendment rights. 

This day genuinely taught me so much about student journalism and how powerful student voices can be. I’m excited to see how this year rolls out for me and the rest of my team.