With five students qualifying and three placing overall, the state journalism convention was quite a trip for the AHS SPUD. Mrs. Digmann drove six hours across the state with Morgan Johnston, Tucker Hill, Peyton Stoike, Rhegan Fritzler, and Autumn Hoff.

Leaving the day after prom was not fun for anyone who went on the trip. We were all exhausted and did not enjoy the six-hour drive, there or back.

Over the course of the trip there, we had one sick passenger, no radio service, some great food from weird places, and one hotel that was nice on the inside, and some crazy on the outside, all except for a missing shower curtain.

The competition was broken up in to sessions. We started off in the activity center with a welcome from the NSAA and the NHSPA. We then walked to the Lifelong Learning Center to compete. Most of us competed in the 9am sessions, while Morgan and Autumn competed in the 10:30am session. After lunch, awards were held in the activity center, and held on time this year.

Morgan Johnson competed in Photo Illustration and Column Writing and placed 6^th in both. Tucker Hill competed in Colum Writing where he placed 3^rd. Peyton Stoike competed in News Feature Writing, Rhegan Fritzler competed in News Writing and Autumn Hoff competed in Editorial Cartooning, all three not placing. That’s a sad deal.

From Morgan asking why we had legs, to my battle cry, and us also going into the mall looking for Cherry Berry only to find it on the way out, we all enjoyed our trip. It was a fun experience and a great way to prepare for next year’s state contest. We have a lot to work on so that more of THE SPUD writers qualify and place at competition.