The fall MIPA Conference was held in Lansing, Michigan at the Lansing Center on Tuesday, October 22. High Schools from all around Michigan were able to attend. The fee was 15 dollars per student. Throughout the day, 4 sessions were held, with a lunch break in between the third and the fourth session. There were over 60 different sessions altogether. Each session ran for forty-five minutes, with lunch being from 11:35 A.M to 1 P.M. The conference started at 9 A.M and ended at 1:45 P.M. Between the sessions was a ten-minute break.
Fourteen Utica High School newspaper and yearbook staff attended. This included Allesandra Ivanaj Michael Rice, Hayden Kindred, Tyler Trotto, Alexa Dawod, Savannah White, TeYana Eades, Tyler May Gloria Cottone, Paige Brinkey, Kara Boice, Theo Thomson, Anna Brown, and teacher Suzanne Greenfield. Each had the option as to which sessions they wanted to attend, and all were able to choose separately.
MIPA did not just offer sessions about writing, but also broadcasting and podcasts. Junior Hayden Kindred is hoping to apply what she learned about podcasts at the conference into her work at Utica.
“The session felt directed and important to me since they talked about how to be a better leader and editor,” Kindred said. “I got information from all my sessions about podcasting to leading to lighting in videos.”
Junior Tyler Trotto was interested in learning more about photography, writing, and broadcasting at the MIPA conference. He got to meet Dan Dickerson, a sportscaster, and ask him questions about broadcasting.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” Trotto said. “I am going to use the information I got about lighting from the photography session I attended.”
There were many different class options, and they all were targeted towards a different aspect of journalism. Some of the classes for broadcasting, others for podcasts, and some in continuing journalism throughout college and life. This is done through the fall conference, and a separate conference held for a week throughout summer.
The whole point of MIPA is to spark a bigger interest for journalism and show it is still a live art. Although physical newspapers are not as big now, journalism is a big form of media online.
