Ready, Set, Report! A select group of students from World Journalism Preparatory School recently attended the 95th annual Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Spring Convention.
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association, or CSPA, is an annual international student press association, founded in 1925.
The vision and goal is to bring together student journalists and faculty advisers from education institutes across the country. CSPA consists of educational conferences, workshops, exchange of trade ideas, critiques, and award programs.
CSPA holds the aforementioned conferences and workshops across the Columbia University campus located in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, and covers a variety of journalism fields and concepts such as, online and printed newspapers, yearbook, broadcast, social media, and other publications.
Additionally, CSPA covers law and ethics concepts related to student journalism, such as copyright and privacy laws.
Many students from across the country traveled to attend the Columbia Scholastic Press Association on a yearly basis.
Jessica Boccia, a senior from Westview High School in California, attended CSPA for the first time this year.
“I live in San Diego, California, but I came to New York City to attend CSPA. My school comes here almost every year, but this is the first time I’ve come and it’s definitely been the experience of a lifetime. I love the relaxed and chill tone of the presenters, and I love that many of them are real journalists or reporters so we get first hand accounts of the lifestyle surrounding journalism. My favorite part of CSPA was the yearbook workshops and coming to the Big Apple. I love yearbook and I love New York!” she said.
Abigail Rivera, a junior at WJPS attended CSPA for the first time as well.
“I loved CSPA so much. I loved the classrooms because they felt so professional, they even had microphones! I loved getting away from school for a few days and getting a little more insight into the journalism world and the way it’s practiced across multiple fields, and what better place to experience it all than the gorgeous Columbia University Campus,” said Rivera.
