Southern Illinois School Press Association, better known as SISPA is a regional organization that hosts many different events throughout the year for high school, Jr. high, and college students to participate in. They have been holding these events for around seventy five years, beginning in 1989. Students from various schools participate in multiple competitions during each year. The competitions include many different topics having to deal with journalism and production. The schools can submit different student written articles based on different topics, including but not limited to, multi-media, sports, and student life.
One of the many events held by SISPA is The Winter Conference, which hosts on-site competitions for students. This year’s competition consisted of eighteen schools and around two hundred and ten students. The competitions are very diverse consisting of many different topics, some being, photography, copy editing, and review writing. There are also many different sessions for people not participating in any competitions. These sessions also have a very large topic area including, the power of ChatGBT, the basics of videography, and yearbook ideas. There is then a big reward recognition ceremony at the end of the event. CHS was lucky enough to participate in this year’s winter conference, and have attended eight different ones since 2013.
Kenna Thompson earned second place in the multimedia story competition with her piece “Volleyball Defeats Marion as Caby, Liefer, and Wolff Take Final Bow.” She also competed in an on‑site photography contest. A personal quote from Thompson about her time in the competition: “Taking pictures all day and going against the other competitors was really fun, and I’m so glad I went. I’m so excited for next year.” The competition taught her many valuable lessons, and she’s even more prepared for next year’s conference.
A quote from Vicki Hoskin, sponsor of the CHS newspaper The Sting and one of the trip chaperones “I am incredibly proud of the students who stepped out of their comfort zones to compete or participate in sessions. It was particularly inspiring to watch The Sting reporters challenge themselves. Beyond the competition, I truly enjoyed the opportunity to connect with everyone and get to know the students outside of the classroom setting.”
Another student who participated in one of the conferences was Maci Ahring. She attended one of the extra sessions on yearbook ideas. She claims, “It was a valuable experience where I got to evaluate different people and be able to see what we could do to improve our website. I also liked being able to hang out with my friends and teachers”. Ahring along with the rest of the group learned many different things about how CHS yearbooks company really works and we are beyond happy for this chance.