NHSJC- Chicago

Over 6,000 high school journalism students and advisers attended this year’s Fall conference in Chicago.

John and Elijah joined me for the extended weekend in the Windy City, and we were able to fit in both family and professional time.

My obligations on Thursday included chaperoning a tour with one of my students. She picked the SNL Experience Tour, and it was awesome. We met our group and walked through downtown to the Museum of Broadcast Communications. The tour was self-led and took us through each day of the week leading up to the big show. So, on Monday we saw how the director and the host that week meet. The exhibit included “Thank You” notes from popular hosts (anything with Oprah impresses me), and TVs had various episodes rolling. Tuesday explained the writing process…and so on. This continued until “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” I was really thankful my student picked this tour, and I sent way too many pictures to my SNL fanatic friends. If you’re in Chicago and love SNL, this is worth your time. Tickets are $25.

As for the conference, Thursday night kicked off the keynote- Pete Souza, chief official White House photographer for President Barack Obama. I’ll be honest, since the conference was so big, I wasn’t in the ballroom with him. We were given the overflow room and it just wasn’t the same atmosphere. I was also disappointed with the audio.

Friday included a morning at Maggie Daley Park, which is right next to Millennium Park. Thanks to my friend Katie Schuldt for this recommendation. This park is amazing for all ages and it’s free. It was a picture-perfect Fall day, and we were able to see both Lake Michigan and Elijah playing on the pretend boats in the harbor at the same time.

Following a morning at the park, I left John and Elijah to attend some sessions at the hotel. Most of the sessions I attended made me feel like we’re doing a lot of things right in the journalism program, but I’m ready to challenge myself. I want more online content, I want web graphics only, and we need more video. I also had the opportunity to see my student present over her comics. She is our publication’s cartoonist, and she did a great job presenting to almost 50 students. I was really proud of her preparation and ability to lead people her own age.

Friday night included a highlight for Elijah- the public transportation system. We rode a bus from downtown over to my cousin’s neighborhood (near Wrigley) for Chicago style pizza and family time. My parents were actually in town for Friday and Saturday night to meet up with my cousins and watch the Notre Dame/Northwestern game together on Saturday. So Elijah was pretty excited to see them walk through the door for pizza Friday night.

Saturday morning was my presentation. I was given the ballroom for 400 people, and I’m glad I didn’t realize it until that morning. (I didn’t know what the 400 under my name meant!!!) I wasn’t nervous, but I did feel pressure to give these students something they could say was worth their time. My audience included my dad, who snuck over from his hotel to witness my sports writing and story-telling passion. Even though I didn’t know a single student in the audience, I think my dad got a feel for my classroom style of teaching.

While I walk away from the conference feeling inspired by the most amazing professionals in my world, I can’t help but wonder where to start. Everything sounds great until I get back to the grind of the classroom with 45 essays and a yearbook cover all under deadline. I’ve decided to take just two things and make time for them in my curriculum for now. The first is requiring all of my Advanced News students a portfolio of their work for the year. At some point, I would like to require this digitally, but right now I’m giving them the choice. The other thing I will bring in this year is more online graphics content. This means content created specifically for the web rather than print.

These are big goals, but I’m excited about them. I needed a challenge this weekend, and I needed family time. I got both.

If you ask Elijah his favorite part of the trip, he’ll say “The hotel and the bus!”

At Least the Weather was a Win

Waking up to a hot breakfast in the hotel followed by a walk two blocks to Millennium Park while I finished my coffee was such a picture-perfect start to our Saturday. John had never visited “The Bean”, so we had to make sure our morning included an introduction.

Following our morning walk around the city in the quiet morning hours, we headed out for South Bend. When we found out my dad had tickets to a Notre Dame game that lined up with Anne’s wedding weekend, we were pumped to make the most of our miles.

We spent the early afternoon tailgating with the family of a student I taught last year who currently attends Notre Dame. I loved seeing this student live his dream come true at Notre Dame. He and I were both laughing pretty hard when he introduced me to his college dorm friends who didn’t believe I could have possibly been his high school teacher. I’ll take it as a compliment.

We snuck away from the tailgate early to meet up with one of my newspaper editors from last year, who also attends Notre Dame. I was able to meet her friends and hear all about her busy involvements. 80 degrees and sunny made the perfect day to tour the campus.

Although the game was pretty rough, our seats were awesome. We were located right next to the students’ section so the cheers were loud and proud, and the land of green was overflowing. I even received a green pom-pom when I entered the stadium for the Kelly Cares Foundation. 

Following the game, we were able to attend Mass on campus. I love college Masses. The music, the homilies, and the attitudes are so upbeat. People seem to be there because they really want to rather than making it seem like an obligation. It was the perfect wrap-up to our weekend away before making our trip home on Sunday.

Girls’ Weekend Chicago Style

Somehow it’s been four years since college graduation. Every year since 2008 we’ve had weddings, bachelorette parties, and showers consume our calendars and plan reunions. This year, no weddings will bring me together with these incredible ladies, so it was time to make our own plans. With a great friend of ours living in downtown Chicago, we spent the weekend invading her cute apartment as we caught up and she showed us the ways of her city life. We even fit in a surprise baby shower for Kathleen.

Thankfully I had four hours of travel time with Kathleen, who came from Des Moines. If anyone was meant to be a mother, it is Kat. She has been ready and acting the part since long before I knew her, and I loved the glow she gave off proudly patting her expanding baby belly. Thankfully this baby handled our restaurant adventures, walking the city, seeing “The Bean”, and even fireworks at Navy Pier. I hope it’s a girl so we can continue girls’ weekends. 😉

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