Journalists gain new skills in Nashville

By Jordyn Sanchez

Editor in chief

A spark of excitement remains in the journalism community. The journalism program's top editors, accompanied by journalism club teacher and sponsor, Mr. Kenealy, and yearbook sponsor, Ms. Rodriguez, headed to the National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville.

From Left: Amiyah Rice, Jordyn Sanchez, Sophia Sanchez, Brianna Bielak, and Nicole Lomax pose for a picture at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, where the High School Journalism Conference was held in November. Photo by Mr. Kenealy

Arriving at the Hyatt hotel after a 7-hour ride, the group attended the Fall 2025 National High School Journalism Convention at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. They stopped at souvenir shops and participated in Law of Student Press & Artificial Intelligence workshops throughout the day, learning new skills.

“It felt good because I didn't have to go to school, but also I felt pressured a lot because I'm missing a lot of tests and school work, and that made me anxious because I didn’t know what I was walking into,” said Sophia Sanchez.

Even though students worry about the constant stress of being unmotivated and not in the mindset to learn, this field trip focused on new skills and kept them in the mindset to think with the open classes; More Latinos in the news, local sports coverage, etc.

“We could use it to improve our journalism skills and maybe, depending on what career we want to go into. We can also use those to make sure that it’s the best experience possible,” said Brianna Bielak.

Brianna used this convention as an experience to grow on already known knowledge with journalism, due to a workshop she attended that was based on newcomers to journalism, where she relearned the basics of journalism, and with new perspectives.

“That’s tough, I keep going back to is covering religion in journalism. I thought that was really interesting because it was something I never really thought about. It's a vulnerable subject, and they described it in a very interesting way, exploring different ideas, such as looking into traditions in a different way. Since Crete has a diverse mix of cultures, including Christianity, Judaism, Catholicism, Buddhism, and others, we should bring that more into Crete Monee High School,” said Mr. Kenealy.

The journalism convention shows an opening to new ideas for people and opens up Crete Monee High School to further diversity, as well as opens up more representation to unheard people wanting to be shown for their different cultures.

“Yes, specifically for broadcasting, we should do a broadcasting invention if there isn’t one already, but for journalism absolutely, since I've heard you could go to different cities, so I think it should happen again,” Sanchez said.