This month’s edition of My Monthly Issue was supposed to be about our class’s trip to conference; however, weather did not work out in our favor, which resulted in us staying home.

This year’s conference was supposed to be even better than before because we were going to take a bus full of students from both journalism and annual. Due to the addition of about 15 more kids, the trip was supposed to be loaded with fun. We had planned to get a speaker and listen to music in the back of the bus and just talk the whole trip to Lincoln.

I was so excited to go on this trip. It’s my senior year and I was hoping to have a repeat of the bonding experiences and great memories that came with last year’s trip. With a whole new group and a bus instead of two vans, each class would not only get to know each other, but also have mixed rooms with kids from each class. Last year at conference, the whole class hung out in one room and just talked, which is the most disappointing part about the trip being cancelled this year.

Conference this year was going to be the point in the year where my monthly issue stopped being an issue. The trip last year allowed our class to just bond and become close friends. During the trip you learn a lot about one another, such as the things that make each person happy or sad, the things they have done or places they have been, and the hardest times of their lives that helped shape who they are today.

Not only are all of the students upset that we could not go on our trip, but I think the teachers were as upset or more upset than we were. Because we have not gone on a trip this year, it seems as though our class has yet to “click”. We are still sort of individuals instead of a team. We do not have the chemistry this year that we had last year.

We have a split staff this year, as we only have five returning SPUDsters and five who are completely new. These new SPUDsters have yet to get their “eyes”. The new kids this year didn’t have the opportunity to see the sessions that allow them to learn how to become better journalists. Because of this, they have to seek more help from the returning journalists who have experienced Conference.

I knew the reasoning behind the cancellation of our trip to Lincoln was valid, the conditions of the roads would not allow a safe trip for a bus full of students to get to Lincoln, no matter how good the driver would be, but I am not happy about missing out on all of the opportunities for fun and learning of new skills. I wish there was an alternate trip we could take, but I think that I have to wrap my head around the fact that if I would want this to happen, I just need to help our staff write some killer stories with catchy headlines, good content, and jaw-dropping pictures so we can all go to state come spring.