{"id":48552,"date":"2019-09-27T08:37:34","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T13:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=48552"},"modified":"2019-09-27T08:37:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T13:37:40","slug":"kspa-conference-bring-area-high-schools-to-fhsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=48552","title":{"rendered":"KSPA Conference Bring Area High Schools to FHSU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STORY BY MYA MCDONALD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHOTOS BY JASMINE ROBLES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\tOn Wednesday, September 25 students and advisors, from surrounding high schools, gathered in the Memorial Union of Fort Hays State University to learn more about journalism at the 2019 Fall KSPA Conference. Multiple speakers were invited to speak about different topics that would be helpful to high school journalists and their advisors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tExecutive Director of KSPA, Eric Thomas, spoke with students about a variety of topics, including how to properly cover controversial topics, and the laws that protect high school journalists from censorship. 
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\t\u201cI want students to walk away empowered, and feel that they not only have the ability, but also the right to cover controversy,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThe other goal is that students can walk away with new skills, so this conference has been loaded up with different sessions where students can learn different skills so they know exactly how to do stuff in the future.\u201d
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Many students, such as Kylie Solida from Phillipsburg High School, plan to exercise the skills they obtained from the KSPA conference in their school\u2019s journalism programs and their journalism contests throughout the year. 
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\u201cI learned a lot about the Kansas Student Publications Act and how it gives students the right to write about controversial topics,\u201d Solida said. \u201cMy favorite part about the conference was learning more about how to write about controversial topics and how to better prepare our yearbook class for the deadlines throughout the year.\u201d
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Different speakers attended the event in order to cover all perspectives of modern journalism. Latisha Haag, the past conference coordinator, attended the event as a session workshop leader. She led a roundtable discussion about \u201cHow to Lead a Staff.\u201d 
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\u201cWe focused on topics like staff motivation, meeting deadlines, organizing content, advertising, and fundraising options. I hope the biggest takeaway from the event is not only the knowledge from the sessions, but a renewed sense of spirit for the school year,\u201d Haag said.
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