After attending The National High School Journalism Convention in Boston in the fall, yearbook editors Ava Garza and Harper Nichols didn’t think they would be attending another convention any time soon. They were selected back in October to attend the fall convention after receiving a First Year Attendee grant for JEA.
Garza felt confident in her presentation skills and decided to try and get a spot on the convention workshop list for the spring. On a whim, she submitted her application back in December and waited. While speakers were supposed to have been notified by the end of January, Garza had all but given up on the possibility of attending, much less presenting at the spring convention.
“I submitted my application in December after we had attended the National Convention in Boston. One of the final sessions I attended was a session that was led by a student and for anyone that knows me knows I love to talk and I actually love public speaking,” Garza said. “They emailed me the Monday before spring break, in March, which coincidentally was the final week before our yearbook deadline. We literally had four days to get the trip approved and planned before leaving for break, all the while trying to finish the yearbook.”
Garza has had a busy senior year not only being the editor in chief of the Treasure Chest yearbook staff but she has also worked with Jostens Inc as an ambassador and served as a sideline reporter for VYPE Houston. Through these experiences she has gained self confidence and worked her way up in the broadcast scene in the Houston area. Due to these experiences she was chosen to lead a two hour session called ‘What’s Wrong With Being Confident.’
“I feel like that’s a really important factor especially in the journalism industry. Knowing what you are good at and not good at is something that my parents taught me and my sisters really early,” Garza said. “I think that not everyone has that same relationship with their parents and so I think that finding out what you’re good at and more importantly finding a career that caters to what you’re good at, was the most important lesson I hope they learned.”
The session was well received by attendees, but even her own staff members were impressed by her presentation.
“I definitely think Ava’s session was the most valuable, not just because I know her, but because she taught things that I didn’t really know, and each lesson was something that could be taken into a variety of careers,” sophomore Harper Nichols said.
Garza was joined in Kansas City by Nichols and sophomore Kate Morris, who has also recently been selected as a Jostens Ambassador. Morris joined the yearbook staff this year and has not only earned a spot on the Jostens team but is applying for a staff leadership position for next year.
“I was invited to go so I could get the chance to meet the Jostens team since I just became an ambassador for them,” Morris said. “I also entered into a photography competition. Also it was my first chance to go on my first out of state trip for my first journalism convention.”