The  news staff and yearbook traveled to Kent State University to participate in, The Ohio Scholastic Media Association(OSMA ). OSMA provides students the opportunity to participate in sessions, taught by state leaders in journalism. The newspaper, yearbook, and website placed first during the awards banquet at OSMA. The three categories students could place in were superior, excellence and honorable mention.The event was hosted at Kent State. 

“ I was very happy with how the newspaper, yearbook and website did. It was the first time in a long time they’ve all gotten first, so I was pretty pumped about that. I think there’s room for improvement on all three fronts but I think we put forth quality publications here at GlenOak High School and the ranking is proof of that, “Spano said.   Spano also liked the sessions students were exposed to and stated kids came back with good ideas for improvement.

 For photography editor

 I was reminded of the importance of interviewing all sides of the story. and not just one side of the story or one perspective”.[/pullquote]The most interesting class was Mike Jackson’s; He was the head of marketing for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, General Motors, and other major companies. He talked a lot about how AI can be used for good, because a lot of times especially in the journalism and marketing industries AI is demonized.  Instead of using one survey group to get information about their product, marketing companies use AI to pull from billions of people across the world on different websites. As a result, they’re spending less time curating surveys and stuff and more time looking at the data, making different strategies,”  Grzybowski said. 

Design editor Kiera Sweeney was surprised and delighted by the results especially considering they were not able to go due to a scheduling conflict.

“ I got. a superior, three excellences, and an honorable mention; Different people messaged me as I was winning things and they were super excited so that felt really good. Then I was also proud of how I placed. I didn’t know that Spano submitted anything for me, so to find out that I won stuff was pretty surprising, “ Sweeney said. 

Co-editor-in-chief Lucy Howell Is proud of what students were able to accomplish this school year.

“I’m really proud of our staff for getting first place for both of them. We’re the only staff that got first place for our website and our newspaper so that was exciting,” Howell said. 

Howell also learned lessons in professionalism well at OSMA. This was due to problems with the sound system and interruptions happening in the middle of the keynote speech at the convention.

 “ The interruptions must have been stressful for the speaker, giving a speech to a bunch of high school students was probably very scary. Having to push through obstacles when they come up, you just have to keep going head-on,” Howell said. 

Overall, OSMA was an informative time for students studying journalism and media. or even just general life skills that can go a long way. 

“ Joining news staff, you learn a lot of skills that you don’t get otherwise. I remember when I started, I was stuck in essay-writing mode. I only knew how to write essays because that’s what we write in school. In news staff you can experiment with different kinds of writing, you have to build conversation skills and teamwork skills that you don’t even get from group projects in school. So I think if you’re just looking for what will best prepare you for your future, joining news staff is infinitely more helpful than higher-level classes like AP or IB,”  Sweeney said.