Sunday, Nov. 9, Southwest Flight 579 touched down at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, carrying the FHN journalism staffers that attended the National High School Journalism Convention. Held in Washington D.C., more than 6,200 student journalists and advisers from all over the country attended. The students on the trip adopted the hashtag #026inDC on Twitter and Instagram. 026 is the Publication’s room number.

“The conference was awesome,” said FHNtoday.com Editor-in-Chief Jake Chiarelli. “In between seeing the monuments and experiencing our nation’s capital, we bonded as a group, met new friends from around the country and learned a ton of things.”

The staff nabbed three places in different Best-of-Show competitions. The North Star placed fifth in the Newspaper Special Edition category, while FHNtoday.com and FHNgameday placed second in the Large School Website category.

“Overall, the trip was a great reminder that the effort we put in day-in and day-out really does pay off,” said Chiarelli. “And we had a blast in the process.”

Individual staff members were also honored for their work in write-off competitions. Ariel Kirkpatrick earned an honorable mention in the Yearbook Student Life Photography category, while Tristan Chenoweth was honored for Newswriting. Alexis Tainter, Sam Skaggs and Chiarelli were given the top spot of “Superior” in Online New Package. Editor in Chief of Photography Ashleigh Jenkins also received a Superior ranking in the Literary Magazine Photography competition. Several others were also mentioned for their work in publications. To see a full listing of the staff’s acknowledgments in Washington D.C., click here.

“It was a really nice few days and I couldn’t be more proud of the students in the program,” said Director of Student Media Aaron Manfull. “It was great seeing the staff interact with others from around the country who share similar interests and to hear all the ideas the staffers came back with to make themselves and the program better.”

FHN students who are interested in the journalism program can enroll in a variety of courses. Beginning students can take Digital Photojournalism or Introductory Journalism classes, earning a Practical Arts or Communication Arts Credit, respectively. Plans are in place to add a new introductory course next year: Broadcast Journalism. After taking an introductory class, the student can then move on to serving on one of the many award-winning staffs.