No one would have ever known it was 7:00 am at Deerfield Beach High School, as over 1,000 students danced and cheered as loud as they possibly could.  Music pumping, cameras all around were centered on three words displayed on the giant screen above: Truth in Journalism.

On Saturday, October 19^th, students from Palm Beach, Broward, and Martin counties gathered together for one reason: To expose truth in journalism.  FSPA District 7, or the Florida Scholastic Press Association, is an organization designed for students interested in journalism to learn more about new techniques in newspaper, yearbook, broadcasting, and online media.  The 30^th year of the FSPA convention allowed students to attend workshops and to participate in contests throughout the day.  Seminars regarding different areas of the field were led by trained professionals, who gave extremely accurate information pertaining to journalism.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the conference included the hands-on experience students received from “on the spot” contests.  In these events, participants had a limited amount of time to do required tasks such as writing articles, shooting footage, and creating full news packages.  These activities provided an accurate simulation of what working in the journalism industry would be like in the real world.  Often times, high school students do not experience the stress that comes along with being a journalist, such as the importance of meeting a deadline. Although it was a challenge, the students learned plenty and brought back new pointers to their high school programs.  At the end of the day, the first, second, and third place contest winners were announced in a closing ceremony.  Pine Crest took away a few awards and hopes to do so again next year!

If you would like to learn more about the FSPA District 7 convention, be sure to check out www.fspadistrict7.com for more information.