By Nikki Rodriguez
Photos by Shaeffer Smith
Video by Emma Wheatley

Watch a video of the two staffs here.

Check out a gallery of the NSPA Convention.

Read a Q&A with Shawnee Mission East publication staffers.

From answering publications advisor Eric Thomas’s hypotheticals to chalking up the school’s quad with refers to the newspaper’s website, the STA publications staffs rarely have a dull moment. The 2011 NSPA convention in Minneapolis is no different.

The three day journalism convention allows the Dart and Teresian staffers to learn from sessions with respected journalists, participate in contests, get critiques from professionals and enter their publications for national awards.

“They get to share in the wisdom of experienced journalists,” Ms. Marie Langdon, a chaperone for the students, said. “The girls seem really energized by some of the speakers and then combined with the energy of so many other students doing the same things.”

Although students miss class time and schoolwork, both staffs see value in attending the conventions.

“I think it’s a good motivational tool,” Cara McClain, Managing Editor of Web for the Dart, said. “Everybody comes back and they’re excited. It’s the time of year when the excitement of the new school year has worn off and this really gets everyone pumped again. It’s a good challenge to our ways of thinking.”

Like many of the staffers, the Dart’s Standing Features Editor Katie Parkinson appreciates the opportunity to learn.

“I took a session on InDesign this morning,” Parkinson said. “The two guys taught us some really cool things to take back.”

Conventions are also a way to earn awards and gain feedback. Editors-in-chief entered their latest publications into the Best of Show competitions. The Dart and Teresian staffs will find out the winners Saturday at the Awards Ceremony.

However, the convention is not just about learning and sharing ideas.

“We go because we get to know our staff better and we get ideas from other publications,” People Pages Editor Maddi Hughes-Zahner said. “We get to make new friends and be nerdy together.”

On the eight hour bus ride from their Kansas City campus to Minneapolis, the girls sang along to “The Lizzie Maguire Movie,” watched the high school classic “Mean Girls,” made bets for the time of arrival, colored pictures, played games and laughed together.

The staffs’ silliness did not begin at conventions like NSPA.

According to Hughes-Zahner, the Teresian staff has fun together in a number of ways.

“At the beginning of the year, we had a yearbook sleepover,” Hughes-Zahner said. “Also, decorating for Teresian [dance] was fun. We were putting stars on the sidewalk outside and singing together.”

The Teresian staff also answers a hypothetical question as a group at publication nights to relax and have fun.

The staff shares completed pages in class after they are sent to the printer. Congratulating and clapping for each other helps the staff to work together, according to Hughes-Zahner.

In the end, memories of being together at conventions are most important to some students.

“I think overall, that’s the stuff you’ll remember,” McClain said. “You’re gonna say those stories over ‘oh yeah, I learned a lot in my class.’”