Gamut staff members attended the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association’s National High School Journalism Convention (NHSJC) held Nov. 13 through 16 in Nashville, Tennessee. The biannual convention is the nation’s largest gathering of high school journalism students and advisors, drawing over 5,600 attendees from 46 states and eight countries.

At the convention, the Gamut staff also competed in the JEA National Student Media Competition (NSMC) for the first time. Competing against 1,668 journalists, nine Gamut staff members won awards in different journalistic categories.

Convention attendees took part in workshops covering journalistic topics ranging from publication leadership to student free speech protections. The sessions were taught by industry professionals so students were able to learn from active journalists.

“I got the opportunity to talk to opinion writers and really loved getting to hear how professional journalists tackle their opinion stories, as that’s my favorite section,” said Gamut editor in chief senior Justin Le.

“The presenters were attentive and asked us questions to make sure we were understanding. It was great to immerse myself with much better photographers,” said Gamut photography editor senior Tyler Nguyen. “I feel like I’m ready to take the lessons I learned to the Gamut’s photography section.”

Seven Gamut staffers earned DEI certification by attending sessions about approaching media coverag of disability, religion, and race issues.

Arts and entertainment editor junior Kenzie Laing said the DEI workshop track “offered me a lot of different perspectives on how DEI might work in journalism, beyond what I had previously thought or assumed.”