On Wednesday, Nov. 2, 34 students from La Salle’s Journalism and Yearbook classes participated in Fall Media Day, an annual convention hosted on the University of Oregon’s campus in Eugene. 

The event was organized through the Oregon Journalism Education Association (OJEA), where students attended a presentation by a keynote speaker and four 50-minute sessions taught by UO faculty, students, media professionals, and experienced advisors from a variety of communication-related fields. 

This was the first time Fall Media Day has been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and approximately 850 Oregon students showed up for this event. In total, 47 sessions were offered for students to pick from at the convention. 

Yendora Young, a senior and member of the Yearbook staff, found that the sessions dealing with topics of sports and breaking news coverage were her favorite. “One was about how to create sports stories, which I thought was helpful, especially for yearbook, because the spread I am focusing on right now is girls soccer,” she said. “[The presenter] basically told us ‘Don’t overthink it’ and ‘Make sure you are available to be able to go to the events.’”

While many sessions were taught as presentations, one session was a “Swap Shop,” where students exchanged their publications’ methods and systems to gain inspiration. Other sessions were set up in a Q&A format, such as the “College Journalism Panel,” where staff members from UO’s student newspaper, the Daily Emerald, discussed what it’s like to run a college publication. 

Young’s main takeaway from her sessions was, “You have to be able to create trust between the person you want to interview so that you can be able to get the inside scoop,” she said. “That way, they’ll feel more comfortable.”

The Falconer’s Co-Editor in Chief Josephine Robinson and News Editor Lillian Paugh presented a session titled “How to Approach Controversial Topics With Confidence,” discussing tips on how to deal with difficult situations in the newsroom. 

The keynote speaker of the event was award winning writer, director, and producer Tevin Tavares. Tavares is a 2016 UO School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) graduate and co-founded the media production company, Combined Culture, LLC. In the talk, Tavares told his story of becoming a “storyteller” and discussed his journey of striving to emulate his role model, filmmaker Ryan Coogler. 

The session “Breaking News and Public Safety Reporting” was led by Maddie Pfeifer, a La Salle alumnus and previous Falconer editor. Pfeifer is a crime and safety reporter for the Corvallis Gazette-Times and the Albany Democrat-Herald, where she specializes in breaking news within Oregon’s Linn and Benton counties. Her presentation detailed what her job as a breaking news reporter entails and gave tips on how to improve news coverage in high school publications. 

Aside from presentations, several La Salle students also attended a tour of UO’s School of Journalism and Communication led by Academic Operations Manager Matt Schmidt during one of the sessions.