On Sept. 14, 10 students from the journalism classes went to the state fair. These students competed in both the print and video competitions, which allowed five members per team. The two groups were tasked with creating a four-page newsletter or making a four-minute video covering assigned or chosen events at the fair.
“We chose those stories because Emily had a lot of background and knowledge on them. She knew a ton of people in the part of the fair, which made it easy to find people to interview,” sophomore Carys Price, member of the video team, said. “We also figured that it would be easy to shoot B roll because there was always someone judging and kids were always taking care of their sheep so we could come over and get more B roll if we needed it.”
The students began their competition at 8:30 a.m. with a strict deadline being 6 p.m. Each team had one story assigned, one drawn from a hat upon arrival, and the remainder of the stories were chosen by the teams.
“I picked to do the Ag Passports because it’s honestly something that really interested me. I was so excited to hear the elementary kids are still going to the state fair for field trips and learning more about the agricultural side of Kansas,” senior Ashlee Williams, member of the print team, said. “Most of the schools we saw were much larger or in a bigger city so I thought it would be nice to give them even a little insight on things that happen around here in Chase County.”
Many of the reporters spent considerable time with the groups they were covering to get a true feel of how the event worked.
“I also liked how I was almost able to do the passports with them, I would hop around from class to class walking with them, going to classes with them, and even being able to have some really great conversation with the teachers and kids about the state fair and why they think it’s so important,” Williams said. “It was a really amazing idea for the directors to add something that was very child friendly while still being able to keep it fun with all the hands-on activities, demonstrations and more.”
The video team had very strict guidelines on their video according to their time requirements for the four-minute video.
“The biggest difficulty we had was the time management aspect because we had to meet certain requirements on lengths of the video,” senior Dominic Cauthers, video team leader, said.
Not only did the journalists learn more about the state fair, they learned how to apply these to their classroom situations.
“The journalism competition was definitely a great learning experience! Working with teammates was definitely a bonding experience and taught me the importance of teamwork and working efficiently together. These skills will be useful back at school when working on our own yearbook,” senior copy editor Avia Banks said. “I also feel like it’s beneficial to all people involved when you have to search for your resources. It brings critical thinking into the process, and you have to be creative when trying to write a story. I definitely feel like this experience is great for all writing teams, video teams, and photographers because it teaches them the very important information they need to collect to create a newspaper, or video, with limited time.”
Two photographers, sophomore Daysha Schickel and junior Karson Vandegrift, participated in a three-hour internship, in which they were instructed to take pictures of the surrounding area, download them from the card and then choose eight pictures to be judged.
“The state fair was a lot of fun. It was my first time experiencing it,” sophomore Daysha Schickel said. “I went as a photographer intern to learn more tips and photo hacks, but unfortunately there wasn’t much learning. The instructor gave us different photo categories and sent us on the grounds for a couple hours alone. Although there wasn’t much learning, I still feel like I accomplished a lot and I had a great time.”
This event benefited students by giving them field experience to apply the skills they have learned in class.
“SPC offers students the opportunity to put the skills we work on in class to use in a real-world atmosphere. They have to apply those skills in a situation that requires them to research topics when they don’t always know all the details, to interview people they don’t know, to work under pressure, and to work as a team under these conditions,” journalism instructor Linda Drake said. “I think it is a great learning experience for all of my students, those who are more advanced as well as the beginners. Time management also plays a key role in this competition as well, which is a great skill to learn early in the school year before so many publication deadlines start.”
