Each year I am fortunate to be able to attend both NSPA/JEA conventions: fall and spring. I am also fortunate to attend and speak at JEA’s Adviser Institute in the summer. However, it shouldn’t be about me being fortunate enough to do something. Rather, it should be about affording the opportunity, the fortune, of these trips (minus AI) to your staffs. After just coming back, and still recuperating, from the fall convention in Orlando, I felt it would be the perfect next post to explain why conventions (state, regional, and national) are important to extend our educational experiences for our young journalists.

I firmly believe that the convention experience is two-fold: instructional and personal.

Firstly, it is one where students get to hear from other journalism teachers and professionals about topics that interest them and can help further their media education. I personally allow my students to pick with sessions they attend, thus allowing them ownership of their experience. However, I will also glance through the Guidebook app just in case to see if there was a session I didn’t want a staffer to miss. My staffs have been exceptional at choosing sessions that pertain to what they do on staff most, but I understand hesitation if you are new and unsure what may be strengths or weakness of your students. Trust me, it means more when they get to pick it; and it’ll make all the difference if you allow them the ownership and responsibility of the education while on the trip.

The other component, and arguably the more important one, is an opportunity for staff growth and personal development through team building and bonding. These trips allow for staffs to be in a close-knit environment for many hours for multiple days. A staff may spend over 15 hours day with one another, and while that sounds scary, it isn’t. Honestly, I think it is one of the coolest parts. From the last convention, offering students the opportunity to manage Disney schedules and fast passes was seemingly as equally as rewarding as the sessions they learned a tremendous amount from. In Denver, traveling on public transportation or exploring the aquarium led to countless stories and exceptional opportunities for students to learn more about one another and grow more effectively as a team.

Here’s the deal: go. Plan in advance, think of a variety of opportunities for fundraising, and go. You need it. Your students need it. Your program needs it. If anything, use the argument, especially if you are the lone journalism teacher in your school, that this form of professional development allows you to engage with other teachers who know what your life is like, as well as for your students to learn from other programs around the country ways to be successful.

So… ask… The next national convention is in Los Angeles this spring. Start planning now because it’ll be a great one. Or, if that is too far for you, the next fall convention is close for KEMPA’s membership: Indianapolis.

Patrick Johnson, CJE,  is the news magazine adviser at Antioch Community High School in Illinois.  He is a member of the KEMPA board and director of the KEMPA Summer Journalism Workshop.  His blog focuses on issues affecting new journalism advisers.