Under the guidance of its new teacher, Debbie Montgomery, the Journalism class at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science has been revamping its curriculum since August. The student newspaper, The Vision, has grown to publishing new editions each week. Due to this, the publication was a force to reckon with at the 2016 Mississippi Scholastic Press Association Journalism conference.

Several students from the MSMS Journalism class, and one student interested in taking the class next year, woke up at the crack of dawn to attend the conference hosted at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. The conference consisted of three hourly sessions where students attended classes pertaining to any aspect of journalism. After registration and a short welcome, the students classes such as Advanced Photoshop Tools, Getting to Know Final Cut Pro, or Getting Started with InDesign.

Once the sessions were done, students enjoyed a pizza lunch in the Grove, which is perhaps the most popular spot. The awards ceremony was emceed by R.J. Morgan, MSPA Director. He gave opening remarks and then introduced Melissa Hamilton. She spoke of her sister, Pamela E. Hamilton, whom the memorial speech was named after. Hamilton spoke of her sister and her journalistic accomplishments, featuring a quote from her sister’s diary: “When did newspapers become politicians?”

Hamilton then introduced the Memorial Speaker, Rose Jackson Flenorl. She gave a riveting speech featuring a multitude of inspiring quotes and stories.

After Flenorl’s speech came the announcing of the awards. For the next few hours, Director Morgan announced the awards that ranged from broadcast to newspaper to yearbook.

All in all, the MSMS Journalism did well at the conference, not only in its awards, but in the knowledge that the students gained from the experience.