On Thursday, October 9, the majority of the Mass Media class took a day off from school to attend J-day, a high school journalism conference held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

One of the most anticipated portions of the conference is the Best of Show Competition, which examines the work done by newspapers and yearbooks thus far in the current school year.

Out of all the high school news websites in the state of Colorado, the MSHS Prospector placed third in the website category

The event, held by the Colorado High School Press Association, unites high school newspapers and yearbooks. J-Day sessions discussed many elements of journalism, including news coverage, publication design and staff management.

CHSPA President Justin Daigle opened the ceremony, discussing the roles of student journalists.

“We are the history makers,” Daigle said. “Without [student journalists], there would be no history. A school year is empty without us.”

To get the crowd warmed up for a day of journalism sessions, Daigle gave a rap about student journalists set to the tune of an Eminem song.

Daigle was later followed by Adam Dawkins, CHSPA adviser of the year.

“The best journalism gets people to think and gets people committed to a social justice,” Dawkins said. “Don’t let anyone tell you that journalism is dying; it’s not.”

Seventy presenters hosted seminars at the J-Day sessions. The various students who attended J-Day found the sessions engaging while others learned new writing techniques.

There were numerous awards presented for the best web content throughout Colorado.The other schools that placed were Regis Jesuit’s RJ Today in second place and Arapaho High School’s Arapaho eXtra in first place. Fairview High School’s The Royal Banner was awarded an honorable mention.