After a relaxing first day of arrival in sunny San Diego, CA, at the annual National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and Journalism Education Association (JEA) conference The Feather staff settled in and got to work.

Before the conference officially began, the group of 10 traveled by ferry to Coronado Island where they spent a few hours touring and enjoying the classic San Diego weather.

The NSPA is a non profit organization that is the authority in high school journalism. The association holds an annual conference in the western United States that recognizes the achievements of young journalists across the country.

Like most conferences the NSPA will highlight two keynote speakers. One of which The Feather staff members attended. Laura Casteneda was the keynote speaker on the staff’s second night in San Diego.

Casteneda focused on a broad spectrum of journalistic topics. Which ranged from racial and gender profiling to telling untold stories of those with no voice.

She is an Emmy Award winning journalist; she is also the owner of Press Pass International. Now, she is a chair in the communications department at San Diego Community College.

Casteneda’s work in “The Devil’s Breath” was screened at the 2008 San Diego Latino Film Festival. Editor-in-Chief Tynin Fires thought that Casteneda’s passion for investigative reporting was inspiring.

“Casteneda was a really interesting speaker because of her background and story,” Fries said. “She has some great points and it was awesome to listen to her speak about her journalism career and inspire us students to continue working towards our dreams.”

Jenna Spoont was an opening speaker at tonight’s convocation. Spoonts was the 2013 scholastic journalist of the year and gave the students in the crowd a motivating speech. Her key points were about truth in journalism as well as first amendment rights.

After the convocation, the staff traveled to Greystone Steakhouse for a late dinner. The restaurant featured gourmet steak and an assortment of seafood. Photo Editor Rayna Endicott enjoyed the dinner, eating alongside her friends in a more formal setting.

“It was so nice to be able to sit down beside the rest of the staff and enjoy a nice meal together,” Endicott said. “The food was delicious; it was a great way to end the day.”

Now all the staffers are preparing for an early morning and a long day of classes and workshops ahead of them.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @beal_trevor. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather. To track the staff’s daily adventures, follow #CoastCoverage on Instagram and Twitter.

For the previous day’s coverage, read the March 9 article, Coast coverage: Day 1.