This summer, I went to the Washington Journalism and Media Conference at George Mason University. The Washington Journalism and Media Conference (WJMC) is a program that students around the country have to be nominated at the end of their Sophomore or Junior year to get into.
This program includes many speakers, several trips to D.C, and a day to tour all of D.C, and you can even get a tour of the US Capitol building. During this trip I got to stay on the George Mason Campus and got the opportunity to meet people my age from all around the country.
I was lucky enough to be nominated by my Journalism and Newspaper teacher, Mrs. Schaarschmidt. Since 8th grade, I always knew that I wanted to be a journalist of some kind. Through WJMC, I got to expand my knowledge of journalism, and got to really narrow down what kind of journalism I want to do.
WJMC is more than just a conference though. To me, I got to meet a whole new family of students that were just like me. I got to see Washington D.C and explore parts that I probably would have never seen had I not joined journalism. I even got a small tase of the “college life” while I was there.
It was like my first taste of adulthood; I had never experienced anything like it in my life before. I was constantly busy while I was there, but none of it ever felt like work. There was constantly a room full of 15-18 year old kids who were genuinely excited to go into a meeting that discussed how to be an ethical journalist.
I think my favorite part of it all was the fact that everyone was truly motivated to be there. Everyone seemed really excited for each and every part of the conference and it was amazing to see because in everyday life, half of the people seem like there’s somewhere else they’d rather be. That feeling just didn’t exist at WJMC.
Two of my favorite speakers that I had at WJMC were Freelance photographer, Anna Rose Layden, and Cross Boarder Crimes Investigator, Lauren Jackman.
Lauren Jackman discussed the importance of her job and how as journalists, we may not be able to reprimand unfortunate occurrences, but we can always shine a light on what’s happening to bring awareness to others.
She had an incredibly well made slide show about all of the scammers that her team had caught as well as numbers that corresponded with how much money is stolen from (typically elderly) people in America. Lauren Jackman works for OCCRP.org and she specializes in the Scam Empire section.
One of my favorite stories from the Scam Empire that I had looked into after the conference was “Behind the Scam: How Fraudsters Use Social Media, Software, and Shell Companies to Steal Millions.” I really enjoyed how the story walked the reader through how the scammers catch their victims, what signs to watch out for, and how they profit from it. I have always loved investigative reporting and would love to do it someday. Just speaking to Lauren Jackman and discovering how in depth her and her team go to spread awareness of how unsuspecting victims get taken advantage of made me strive to be that talented someday in a similar field.
Anna Layden highlighted the importance of mood and how to capture exactly what someone else is feeling and make it resonate with others without having to say anything. She showed a whole bunch of her favorite pictures and all of them were amazing, but my personal favorite was a picture of a guy from a rally who had his arm lit on fire. I know that sounds kind of morbid, but the story behind how the picture came to be was astounding. Anna Layden was trying to edit her images on a sidewalk and she heard a man screaming. She looked up and saw a man’s arm on fire. In a split second, she made the decision to drop everything and run to take the picture with her. I really loved how she used her “journalistic instincts” to know how to get one of the best images I’ve ever seen.
Anna Layden and Lauren Jackman both had one thing in common despite their fields being polar opposite of each other. They both were fully invested in their jobs and loved every part of it. The fact that not just Lauren Jackman and Anna Layden, but all of the speakers at WJMC have been doing journalism for many years and still have an incredible passion and drive for what they do really impacted and inspired me as a National youth correspondent.
I learned so much at the conference, everything there was incredible. Going to WJMC is definitely something I’ll never forget, I’m thankful to everyone I encountered at the conference as well as Mrs. Schaarschmidt for making this opportunity possible and for encouraging me to follow my dreams.
