This year’s SPUD staff made their way to UNL, for the NHSPA 2015 Journalism Conference that was held on October 19. The annual Lincoln trip has only been happening for the past three years since the new sponsor, Tera Digmann, signed us up as soon as she received an informational flyer about the conference. Morgan Johnston and Peyton Stoike are the only two students that have been to the conference three years running.

The students left Alliance at ten on Sunday morning and began making their way to Lincoln, although there were bumps in the road. Kaiya West and Tera Digmann supervised and drove Sharia Williamson, Safyre Yearling, Autumn Hoff, Tucker Hill, McKenna Romick, Sophi Sanchez, Madison Hiemstra, Morgan Johnston, and Peyton Stoike. The SPUD was lucky enough to be able to take the whole staff this year, but Rhegan Fritzler was not able to attend the conference due to an illness. Before Ogallala, one of the school vehicles started making an abnormal noise and the check engine light came on, but the six people in the car made it there and back safely. The staff arrived at the Country Inn and Suites around seven and went off to eat at the Mellow Mushroom. After a quick stop to Party City, the students either relaxed in the hot tub, got some homework done, or hung out in their rooms.

Monday morning came around and we packed our bags and loaded up. The conference started at nine AM with a welcome from the President of the Nebraska High School Press Association (NHSPA), Christine Kaldahl, and the keynote speaker a senior writer for ESPN, Mitch Sherman. The NHSPA awards followed.

After being dismissed, students went to their first session. Advisor went to the NHSPA meeting while students had the opportunity to pick from seven other categories to go to. The second session, Online Newspaper, took the majority of our staff due to the fact that it was the website we used. Lunch split the second and third session where the staff patiently waited in line for Chipotle. The third session was hard to be attentive because it was getting close to departing.

Some favorite sessions included Sports Broadcasting, Creating Infographics, and Online Newspaper. In Sports Broadcasting, John Baylor, the voice of Nebraska Volleyball and founder of Baylor ACT Test Prep, shared his insights about life in a sports broadcasting booth. In Creating Infographics, Katie Nieland of UNL’s Center for Great Plains Studies showed how infographics can bring words and images together. Jason Wallstead lead Online Newspaper, a session that was about how Student Newspaper Online (SNO), which is the site we use, explores online publication of student newspaper and how to make it work. Advisor, Tera Digmann is looking to get a representative from SNO to come do a workshop because the students enjoyed it so much. Students will start selling ads to offset the cost of one thousand dollars to bring the workshop to Alliance.

The trip back home was a little bumpy. A wrong turn was made and a deer’s life was spared, but we made it home safely. It was a successful trip and the seniors are pleased to have their last trip be a memorable one.