On November 7th, Mrs. Hunkele’s Journalism class and the 2016-2017 Yearbook staff visited Columbia University in the City of New York for the 2016 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference. Leaving Bernardsville at 7:20 AM and starting the Conference at 9:30 AM, the students who attended enjoyed a day full of expert insight on various journalism and yearbook related topics.
Attendees had access to a custom CSPA app for the day, including scheduling materials for various classes, a map of the campus on 116th St & Broadway, and other important New York related information.
Breaking up into individual or two person groups, each student of Bernards High attended lectures that interested them. Some of these lectures included “Front Page News”, “Anatomy of Typography”, and “Trends in Publications”.
News Editor and attendee Jacob Sugarmann said, “The Columbia trip was a great learning experience for both Yearbook and Journalism.”
Each lecture was an hour long, and hosted speakers such as Adam Baumgartner from Vox Media and Thrillist Media, the founders of brands such as The Verge, Vox, SB Nation, Eater, and other news organizations.
Since lunch was not served on campus, attendees had the opportunity to explore West 116th street for one hour.
Well known restaurant chains such as Five Guys, Chipotle, and Starbucks had lines that went outside into the street, while more quiet establishments like “Sweetgreen” and “Tom’s Restaurant” had an occasional visitor from the CSPA event.
Resuming at 12:15, attendees went to their afternoon lectures, still experiencing Columbia University while the school itself was still in session.
Mixing in the crowd of everyone on campus, the only difference between the visitors of CSPA and the Columbia students was the CSPA issued identification badge with a blue lanyard.
When attendees were not sitting for a lecture, they had the opportunity to explore the campus. The University began in colonial America as “King’s College” in 1754. The University proudly presents their history as the oldest university in New York and the fifth oldest university in the United States.
Ending at 3:30, every attendee left Columbia University with valuable information to assist them in creating better school publications. Yearbook advisor Mrs. O’Brien said, “It was the first time we ever went on the trip and I thought it was highly beneficial for our students. They learned stuff they couldn’t learn anywhere else.“
Yearbook and Journalism students cannot wait to attend next year’s conference in 2017.
