College students storm capital
EIGHT JOURNALISM STUDENTS GET THEIR FIRST TRIP TO WASHINGTON, D C.
ihoto bv Kristen Wohlers
BY ALEXIS WAGAR
Eight members o f The Clackamas Print
traveled across the country to attend
the Associated Collegiate Press College
Media Convention in W ashington, D .C.
in late October. This is the largest media
convention for college students in the
fall, having more than 200 sessions with
experts and advisers.
Founded in 1921, A CP’ s mission is to
“ serve m edia and advisers, introduce
new ideas and reinforce best practices,
reward excellence, em brace diversity
and provide am ple netw orking and
partnership opportunities.”
A lo n g w ith awards and ex h ib its,
the convention also featured keynote
speakers includin g D onna Brazile of
the D em ocratic N ational Com m ittee,
Bob Woodward of the W ashington Post,
Jose A ntonio Vargas o f #Em ergingUS
and Edward Snowden for the Freedom
of the Press Foundation.
Span ning the course o f three days,
students; had th e o p p o rtu n ity to
participate in events such as the photo
shootout, two separate movie screenings,
and a plethora of media tours including
National Public Radio and CBS. As a part
o f attending the convention, students
also had lim ited opportunities to sign
up for a tour of the White House. W ith
eight o f our staff being on the trip, we
were able to split up and conquer the
convention. In our five days in D .C. we
covered a lot of ground including visiting
the Newseum, touring the W hite House
and even catching an NBA game.
Like us, som e journalism stud ents
traveled far for the convention. On our
flight hom e, one o f our staff members
sat next to a student from Emerald Media,
the University of Oregon’s student news
operation. Throughout our days in D .C .
we riiet people from all over the country,
including students from Colorado and
students who lived so close they cbuld
take the local Metro to the convention
each day.
-«-[1’ m] very im pressed w ith m y first
ACP conference,” said Lauren Berlingeri,
a public relations student who traveled
The opening of “The Art of the Qur’an,” at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery was held Oct. 22. Students from Clackamas
were able to attend the event. For the full story on the opening, visit www.theclackamasprint.com.
to the conference from Oklahoma City,
O klahom a. “ Spectacular keynotes and
great location.”
“ M y favorite part o f the conference
were the keynote speakers! They weren’t
nobodies, but big nam es w ho’ve done
big th in g s ,” said B erlingeri. “ It was
like w atching history in front o f you
and reaffirming those events did occur,
because they were a part of it, My favorite
keynote was Edward Snow den and
many people were jealous that I got the
opportunity to listen to him speak.” ,
Listening to Snowden was definitely a
highlight of the conference. The former
CIA em ployee, who copied and leaked
National Security Agency inform ation,
is con sidered a hero am o n g m an y
journalists. There was a record-breaking
audience o f hundreds w h o had the
opportunity to listen and ask questions
via satellite with Snowden, who is still'
in Russia.
“ If you’re not w illing to do the right
th in g, particularly on this scale, to do
so m ething fo r your country because
you’re afraid of being called a couple bad
names, you don’t care about your country
that m uch,” Snowden said when he was
asked about how he responds to both
personal attacks and allegations that the
leaks compromised national security.
“ The reality is, this is more important
than words. This is more important than
my reputation.”
Snowden also stated that if he could
turn back time to do it again, he would
have done everything sooner.
“ I t was like watching
history in front o f
you anil reaffirming
those events d id occur,
because [th e speakers]
were a p a rt o f it .”
- Lauren Berlingeri
Clackamas Print NOVEMBER 2,2016 theclackamasprint.com 3