High school students from across the state recently gathered at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Hattiesburg campus for the annual Mississippi Scholastic Press Association (MSPA) Day, where they explored ways to excel in media and journalism through discussions with industry professionals. The theme of this year’s event was “Fall Back into Storytelling.”
Sessions covered a variety of topics, including community challenges, the Mississippi voting process, newsroom and yearbook basics, Adobe software, Instagram stories, and preventing youth violence.
Presenters included Donna Ladd, Hart Jefferson, and Ryan Perry from the Mississippi Free Press; Richard Lake from Mississippi Today; Glenda Hartfield from Perry Central High School; Karen Loden from Varsity Yearbooks; C.J. LeMaster from WLBT News; Nichole Cyprian and Joshua Wilson from USM’s Roy Howard Community Journalism Center; Zoe Keyes from MSPA; and Dr. Paul Linden, Carlton Wade, Dr. Lindsey Maxwell, Dr. Wilbur Martin, Dr. Stephen Coleman, Dr. William Thompson, Keith Hollingsworth, and Dr. Dave Davies from The University of Southern Mississippi.
“We wanted to be able to give students a day out of their normal routine in their schools and get them to listen to industry professionals, expert teachers, and experts in the field,” said Dr. RJ Morgan, MSPA Director. “We want them to be able to take those outside influences back to their classrooms and the publications they work on at their school and be even better at telling the stories of their schools and their communities.”
Students appreciated the sessions and the hands-on experiences they offered.
“We gained different perspectives on how other people put their media projects together,” said Berkely Clark, a student from Gulfport High School.
Hillary Fusco from Petal High School and Jayden Cutler from Northwest Rankin High School served as student journalists for the event, interviewing organizers and attendees. Their work resulted in video news packages highlighting the day’s activities.
Planning for this year’s MSPA Day took months.
“We began planning the event during the previous spring,” said Dr. Ed Simpson, Director of USM’s School of Media & Communication. “It’s about six months of hard work by three or four people. We had to arrange food for about 300 high school students, along with 20 advisors and 20 session presenters. We also had to manage parking, which most people don’t think about. Everything has been in the works for about six months.”
Despite the logistical challenges, USM officials are already looking forward to next year’s event.
