Hollywood baby!! Back at the start of the 4th quarter, some of your Journalism and Yearbook editors got the chance to extend their spring break by a week and travel down to lovely California to attend the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in downtown LA. Joined by members of the 6 District program, these lucky few fellows left Ohio to get to experience the bustling LA life for an eventful week. 

We left Cleveland on a nice Tuesday morning, not too hot, not too cold, and began the first leg of our trip- Cleveland to Denver. After a bumpy landing going into Denver, we had to sit through a 4 hour layover before boarding our final flight to Orange County. During that layover, most of us went to get a quick bite to eat (since it was lunch time back home), explored around the airport, and scoured for an open outlet. And being the Hudson students we are, some of us took some time to get some school work done, but that didn’t last long. Our main concern was getting delayed, or canceled, since this was during the whole Spring Break travel fiasco, and we did see many delays, but luckily our plane wasn’t one of them. One thing I have to note about Denver, it’s incredibly windy. Taking off and landing was very rough, but in the words of Patrick Chmura- “It’s like a rollercoaster.” But after a bumpy takeoff, we arrived in Orange County full of excitement and mild jet lag. After getting our bags, we were met by some drivers in very sketchy vans who took us to our first hotel in Huntington Beach, and let me say.. It was NICE. Our hotel was right across the street from the beach, like I was able to see it from my rooms balcony, and the rooms were decorated with a modern beachy vibe that was very nice, and they had plenty of room. We then dragged our travel exhausted selves to get a quick bite to eat, and crashed moments after getting back to the hotel. 

The next day was one of my favorite days, it was Huntington Beach day. We got to spend the whole day being tourists and walking all over Huntington Beach, checking out shops and restaurants, the pier, and the beach. And the beach was busy, which was impressive considering it was a bit foggy. But no one overtook the waters as much as the surfers did, anywhere you looked in those waters, you were bound to see at least one surfer paddling out, sitting and waiting for a wave,or riding one back into shore. As someone who cannot surf and will not due to a fear of the ocean (I blame the movies Soul Surfer and The Shallows), it was really fun to see. At 1pm, we got to meet with some of the marketing managers at RipCurl and learn about what they did, how RipCurl is different as a surf company from others,  and then use their 50% off employee discount. Then we slowly made our way back to the hotel, some of us stopped by the pool for a bit, and then got ready for a nice sunset walk and dinner. The sunset… gorgeous. It was set up perfectly, no clouds, nothing, it was quite a sight to see. Then we went to dinner to celebrate News Editor Charlie Herman’s birthday and encountered our first little fiasco with a missing sock. And the night wasn’t done as we got some cupcakes at the hotel, went out to sit on a balcony and met a very interesting woman, and I sent my roomates ona wild goose chase after my cell service went out for a bit and they couldn’t contact me (I was 2 doors down in another hotel room), but it all worked out ok. 

Now it was time for the reason we were in LA, the conference, we drove up to LA in a party bus (thank you Mrs.C)- shoutout Patrick for being on aux- and arrived at the Westin, the hotel that the convention was taking place at. We were greeted by the blazing LA heat, and being the tough Ohioans we are, we trudged through it in an attempt to reach Grand Central Market, where we got some lunch (I made the mistake of buying a $13 smoothie- it was worth it though), and then we got back to the hotel, changed and went down to the opening meeting of the convention. It was long I must say, but the highlight of the whole night was hearing the keynote speaker, Hilde Lysiak, give an incredibly powerful speech on censorship in journalism. Charlie and I even got to ask her some questions following her speech. 

The next day, the fun began. Bright and early at 8 am, we all meet downstairs to discuss the game plan for the day. We were required to attend 5 sessions from 9 am-2:30 pm, with a break for lunch. The sessions were like class periods, each 50 minutes long, and they covered a variety of topics, from team building to photography, legal issues behind writing, and more. It was able to cover every aspect that might interest a young journalist and aid them in advancing their writing skills. Your journalism crew was also able to meet with another journalism teacher who gave us feedback on how to make our newspaper more appealing to you- the student body- so be on the lookout for a upgraded Explorer next year! By the time our last session was complete, we were exhausted. Some people went back to their rooms to chill, some went out to explore LA and find some place to get some food and shop, and others went up to the hotel pool, which had become a hot zone for all the students there. And don’t worry, being that we were staying in one of the most massive hotels I’ve ever seen, we did take to exploring the hotel and its many features. But the elevators were a disaster. At one point you had to wait for over 10 minutes to get one, and then 2 of the three elevators going to the Yellow Tower (yes it has 4 towers, it’s that big) broke down, so it got even worse. But we made it, somehow. 

Our final day was the most eventful on my part. We had to attend 4-5 more sessions from 8- 1pm, and it was busy. Luckily I was able to sneak into this amazing session with Sarah Lerner, the yearbook advisor at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Yes, that school name should ring a bell. On February 14th, 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglass fell victim to a school shooting, ending in the deaths of 17 students. Sarah’s session was all about tragedy, and how to deal with it. She told us about the events that happened to her that tragic day, and how the students used the newspaper and yearbook as a way to remember those lost and help slowly heal the community. This session became my favorite of the whole convention. Being someone who mainly tackles writing about news, sometimes I find myself writing about topics that are heavy and I focus on trying my best to write as accurately as I can, reporting on the facts and events, but also trying to help show my respects towards those affected, without upsetting them. 

After the final convention wrapped up, some of us got the chance to go walk the Walk Of Fame (in my opinion, it’s a cool thing to see, but a bit overrated) and see a little more of LA, including the lovely traffic. And then we took to our regular shenanigans of running around the hotel and finding great places to take many sunset pictures and TikToks. Then we had to get back to our rooms and begin the long process of repacking our bags and attempting to find room for all the stuff we got on the trip. But after a lot of pushing, reorganizing, and sitting on suitcases, we were able to figure it out and we were ready for another long day of travel tomorrow, starting with us leaving bright and early at 6 am.

Now this travel day was chaos, first things first, the door of the bus got stuck, trapping almost everyone’s luggage in there. But, thankfully, we had some strong chaperones who were able to get it unstuck. Then we had our first leg of the day, Orange County to Denver. We said goodbye to sunny California and flew 2 hr to be greeted by some of the worst turbulence I’ve ever felt in my life. It was BAD. By the time we got off the plane, almost half of us were struggling with some intense motion sickness, but a lucky few were fine. I envy those people. So after a rough hour and a half, we got on our final flight back to Cleveland. The takeoff was bumpy again, but as soon as we flew far enough away from Colorado, the winds died down and it was a smooth flight home. We landed at 8 pm, got our luggage and got on a bus to get back to the high school at around 9:30 pm. Then it was back to school the next morning. 

This trip was by far the best school trip I’ve ever gone on. It was fun and exciting, but I still had the opportunity to learn a bunch of new skills to help better myself as a writer, editor, team member, etc. It also solidified sthe love and passion I have for journalism. The ability to learn about things firsthand, and then tell the story about what happened to other people is influential, especially in this era. Journalism is an incredibly important profession in ensuring that our society remains functioning, and it has become too overwhelmingly corrupted with bias and hate. These conventions and incredible teachers, like Mrs. C, are the key to making sure that the next era of journalists will return to the way it was before, a place where anyone could come to get an honest story. I’ll end by saying this, if you don’t take at least one semester of Journalism during your time at Hudson High School, you are really missing out. 

This article was previously published in the May 2022 issue of The Explorer.