Celebrating “Free Speech, Free Press, Free People,” the Colorado Student Media Association (CSMA) hosted J-Day for student press across the state on 10/19. Over 1,400 students from broadcasting, newspaper, yearbook, and online newspapers attended, some traveling for three hours to make it.

Coronado’s student media programs attended, bringing students from the Cougar Daily, KUGR-TV, and yearbook.

The event boasted 57 different sessions, or lessons, that students could attend. Each session had to do with one of a broad range of topics, all of which focused on making student publications better.

“It was a lot of seminars that you could go to hear professional journalists speaking on what they think young people need to know to go into the field,” said Gaby Stenholm, 11, from the Cougar Daily. “It was about being curious and investigating the things that you think people need to know, and not letting anything get swept under the rug.”

Mr. Stoughton, newspaper and yearbook sponsor, is excited to see how the productions with which he works will improve from this. “I think it was nice for the kids to be able to keep up with current trends in journalism and reinforce good habits and remember that good journalism involves risk-taking,” he said. Because of what students learned at J-Day, Stoughton said, “we’re looking at having a contest to give the Cougar Daily its own logo done by the digital artists at are school, and the yearbook staff has tried to up their storytelling game.”

Be on the lookout for better, more in-depth methods of reporting at Coronado!