Sixith Annual Journalism Day

Journalism Day is a fun and exciting event for schools with Journalism programs in KHSD. Last year schools were given the chance to go to Bakersfield College and learn about the Journalism business for the next level. During Journalism Day awards are given out for Best Photo, Best Front Page, Best Broadcast, Best News story, Best Features story, and Best Sports story. Last year the Ridgeview team won first place for best news story written by Audrina Natividad, and Best photo was won by Justin Hernandez. This year for some staff writers of the team it will be their first time going to the event and it will be their fourth year attending. 

Benjamin Castro, junior first year in Journalism is excited and looking forward to the event. Castro states, “I am looking forward to being able to go to Bakersfield College and enjoying my time there.” He is really excited to see what he can learn to improve how he takes pictures. Castro also said, “I want to see what journalism looks like at the next level.” Journalism Day consists of guest speakers coming and speaking to students about the profession and on what it has to offer. 

 Senior Samantha Trujillo has gone to every journalism day since her freshman year. Her freshman year it was online due to COVID-19. Trujillo said, “Being able to see the other schools and see what they did because we are always trying to step up our layouts and newspapers. And I know they are as well so every time we get together on Journalism Day we all just look at each other’s work.” Trujillo is looking forward to this day because of the fact it will be her last.  She has enjoyed her time going to Journalism Day because she is always building up to the moment. She is also excited to learn more about the profession and to see what she can do to improve her writing and layout.

Advisor of the Ridgeview Journalism staff Kristen Hunter says the first Journalism day that she knew was when she was in high school as a senior in 1997. The first one Hunter planned was in 2018 the idea behind Journalism Day was her idea because “I wanted to bring it back to the high schools so that the student population could get more information and be trained in terms of Journalism and broadcast.” Hunter decides to bring back the event each year because the students want it back and so that students have the opportunity to learn the next level of journalism. The goal she has for the event is, “I hope everybody learns something about the profession so that they can take back to their schools and help their schools better their programs”. There will be ten schools attending this year’s event. Some of the schools include Bakersfield High School, Centennial High School, Del Oro High School, and South High School.