M.L. Educational Center students participate in FIU's Journalism Day

On Saturday, October 27, The Florida Scholastic Press Association (FSPA) held its 46th annual South Florida Journalism Day convention at Florida International University (FIU).
Schools from across the district came together to learn, collaborate and compete in all things media; from layout and design, to news stories, broadcasting and film.
Miami Lakes Educational Center’s (MLEC) journalism students were in attendance, along with student journalists from all over South Florida.
The event opened on a somber note. Rebecca Schneid, Zakari Kostzer and Alexa Zarem, three student journalists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, shared their stories. They recalled how they lived through last school year’s tragic shooting and how they worked to cover the event as journalists. They described how they went about designing their newspaper, conducting interviews and creating a documentary to cover the loss of their friends and classmates in the most tasteful and respectful way without encroaching too far.
“There’s a balance between wanting to get a story done, and invading people’s privacy,” says Shneid. “You want to get the story done, but you want to get the story right.”
After the introductory speakers, the convention got underway. Each journalist moved to the different workshops sprawled across the campus. Different activities were held, ranging from an on-the-spot writing contest to a full conference on learning advanced photography with professional photographers from Fox-Mar Studios.
Teresa Frontelo, the digital director from WLRN discussed interviewing and asking tough questions. Jeff Kleinman, day editor at The Miami Herald held a workshop on the differences between feature and news stories.
These were just two of the experts on hand to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the changing media landscape which is increasingly digital.
At the end of the event, all the schools met back in the assembly room and waited anxiously for the announcement of the winners of all the competitions. With every award given, a roar of cheers erupted.
Once again, MLEC performed well. The Harbinger’s editor-in-chief Sabine Joseph won the statewide award, All Florida, in the creative writing competition and won second place for the on-the-spot-creative writing competition held earlier that morning. Michelle Mairena, a sophomore staffer, won an award for on-the-spot news writing.
MLEC’s yearbook staff also racked up awards, earning themselves a Statewide Honorable mention for its theme package, promotions and layouts.