Published: March 12, 2015 | Posted: March 18, 2015 | Written by Stephanie Llamas
As the Associated Collegiate Press Conference started the air was stifling with anticipation as whether to Viewpoint’s hard work and dedication paid off with awards and honorable mentions.
The convention brought plenty of motivation to young students striving to better themselves in their journalism careers. Viewpoints students, participated in workshops and a series of mail-in competitions at the the Associated Collegiate Press Convention hosted at Sheraton Universal Studios Hollywood.
While at the convention, Viewpoints was awarded fourth place in the Best of Show contest among other two-year newspapers.
“It had been a really intense issue, Crystal and I were working on ‘Police miss deadline’ to the last minute, it was really stressful but it was a good kind of stress,” Valerie Osier, managing editor of Viewpoints, said. “We learned a lot doing that story. Crystal wrote it and put in all the hard work, but we all kind of learned through it.”
James Williams, editor in chief of Viewpoints expressed his gratitude and excitement to have been invited, “It was a great honor to be amongst a diverse group of college students journalists from different states and a different country,” said Williams.
Being given the opportunity to be in the presence of well-known keynote speakers such as Rory Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Academy Award-nominated independent filmmaker, Brian Stelter, senior correspondent for CNN and Jack Ohman, editorial cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee, allowed future journalism students to step into their lives and view journalism through a different outlook in their careers. The speakers presented innovative ideas to influence the lasting success of Viewpoints..
Olmedo, learned patience and furthered her drive from her experience at the convention, allowing her to refocus what is of high importance to her in journalism. Crystal Olmedo, Viewpoints news editor, sought to apply the material she learned at the ACP convention to bring a new edge to the Viewpoints News section.
“Sometimes it’s a long path in journalism. You’re not going to get instant results it is a lot of hard work, and takes a lot of patience and focus. It showed me to keep that drive but not be too hard on myself because it may take years to get where I want to be,” Olmedo said.
