NP3 Attends NorCal Media Day in San Francisco

By Harshan Heer and Bryn Macias
for The Pacific Times

Hundreds of students from Northern California gathered last month in San Francisco to learn new skills to improve their yearbook and journalism programs.

NorCal Media Day took place during NP3’s fall break on Sept. 27 at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco. It was hosted by the Journalism Education Association of Northern California (JEANC). More than 400 students and teachers attended, including NP3 Journalism Club members and yearbook students.

“I learned important skills about libel and how to brand a newspaper,” said Shreya Phabu, a journalism staff writer. “I went because I wanted to expand my journalism skills, understand how other schools operated journalism, and see San Francisco.”

The five-hour event included four rounds of presentations in which students could pick what to attend. Presentations included topics such as building a yearbook theme, improving interviewing strategies, how to transition into college journalism, and more. There were also booths set up by colleges, representatives of editing applications, and news organizations. Lunch and snacks were provided to participants as well.

“I would like to go again in the future. I feel like I gained a lot of useful knowledge for yearbook design and photography, as I am always looking for ways to better our school’s yearbook,” said yearbook editor Kaylee Chouang. “It was really helpful to get professional advice and watch the presentations in person, everything was super insightful. I was able to reflect and grow from the presentations they gave and will be able to apply it to both this year’s and next year’s yearbook! Additionally, it sparked an interest in journalism and strengthened my passion in photography and design.”

Chaperones Kirsten Spall and Kimberly Knestrick accompanied NP3 students at NorCal Media Day. Spall said she believes NorCal Media Day is beneficial for NP3 students.

“We’re such a small school and we only have so many staff members, so I think it is really valuable for students from our school to get out to things like conferences and talk to professionals in the field, to hear how teachers are teaching Journalism or teaching Yearbook, and to get ideas from other students that are doing really cool things,” she said.

Educational sessions at the event were presented by high school students and teachers, college professors, an attorney with the Student Press Law Center, members of JEANC, and more. Students who attended were able to choose from a variety of topics to learn about and get multiple perspectives on the subjects they were interested in.

“I decided to go because I had gone previously in my freshman year and I thought that it was really cool to see how other school’s journalism/yearbook teams worked and to take inspiration for our own school,” Chouang said. “This year, I wanted to refresh my memory with a more focused mindset on seeking more specific advice on the yearbook.”

Journalism staff writer Sophie Pham described NorCal Media Day as an excellent learning experience.

“I learned a lot from the event that I have applied to my articles to make them better,” she said. “I went because I want to be a better writer.”

Students interested in learning more about JEANC or NorCal Media Day can visit JEANC’s website at https://jeanc.org/.