On Feb. 27, Del Val’s chapter of Quill and Scroll Honor Society hosted the third annual Hunterdon County Student Media Convention.
High school students from Del Val, Bernards, Hunterdon Central and Piscataway came together for Student Press Freedom Day, and learned from different professionals. Some of the presenters were not only experts in their field, but are also Del Val alumni and staff.
Throughout the day, students chose from a multitude of sessions, discussing various forms of media, such as social media, broadcasting, writing and layout.
The day began with a speech from the president of the Garden State Scholastic Journalism Association, Tom McHale. McHale helped pass New Jersey’s New Voices Law, and spoke to the convention about the legislation and the protections it grants.
Many Del Val students were unaware of these rights before The Delphi advisor Brian Smith created this convention in 2023. Smith has hosted the event ever since.
“I started the convention as a Teacher of the Year project,” Smith said. “I was the 2023 Hunterdon County Teacher of the Year, so they like to see that you use that title to do something to impact education. I knew that our journalism program wanted to continue to grow and really needed to, so I thought it’d be cool to provide students with an affordable convention that’s in their backyards. Then, you don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars to go to a national convention or travel.”
Throughout the event, students had opportunities to collaborate with other schools. During the lunch break, attendees mingled and played cornhole and giant Connect Four. After the last session, students had time to work on projects together and reflect on the day.
“I thought it was a good way to learn more information from the journalism community… as well as social media and how to use that as a tool,” freshman journalism student Austyn Hackmann said.
Now, the convention’s planning committee has begun preparing for next year. They take into account feedback from the previous convention and raise their expectations.
“The goals for next year are, hopefully, to get another school here and have around 100 students attending, but I think we found our sweet spot with the number of presenters and sessions,” Smith said.
Next year, the convention will take place on Thursday, Feb. 26, which, again, is Student Press Freedom Day. New Jersey schools can contact Smith at briansmith.k12.nj.us if they’re interested in an invite.
