Each fall, staff members of The Barry Buccaneer, Barry University’s student-run newspaper, travel to a city in the U.S. to gather with student journalists from all over the country and learn the ins and outs of the journalism industry at the National College Media Convention. This October, Buccaneer staff members will travel to New Orleans to learn about their trade while also taking in the sights, sounds and tastes of the Big Easy.
“Apart from having an amazing training experience, we look forward to a week in one of the cities most well known for its food and music in the United States,” said Ariel Hernandez, editor-in-chief of the Buccaneer.
The five-day convention, sponsored by the Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Association, will host more than 2,300 student journalists and advisers and will feature keynote speeches, workshops, critiques, trade show and awards ceremonies, and hundreds of educational sessions.
“I hope to learn new ideas and create new connections and networking with other college students in order to strengthen our abilities upon returning to Barry,” Hernandez said.
In past years, the Buccaneer has traveled to Chicago, Orlando, Fla., Louisville, Ky., and Austin, Texas, among other cities, for the convention. This year’s 92nd annual convention will return to New Orleans after more than a decade.
In addition to the funding it receives from Barry’s College of Arts and Sciences to attend the convention, the Buccaneer also finances trip costs through its advertising revenue, said Susannah Nesmith, the Buccaneer’s faculty adviser.
Staff editors and writers who represent the Buccaneer at the National College Media Convention return to Barry to share what they learned with the rest of the Buccaneer staff through formal training, such as presentations, and informal training that takes place while staff members work on the paper together, Nesmith said.
“Students are not just energized because it was fun, but because they have all these good ideas,” Nesmith said.
Staff members’ efforts to improve the Buccaneer by attending the National College Media Convention and other conferences have not gone unnoticed. During the 2012-2013 academic year, Buccaneer staff members were recognized with awards in feature writing and photography from the Society of Professional Journalists and awards in graphic design and photography from the Florida College Press Association.
The Barry Buccaneer is written, edited and produced by a student staff and is published monthly. For more information about the Barry Buccaneer, visit https://www.barry.edu/english-foreign-languages/student-organizations/barry-buccaneer.html