The Feather team heads to New York City to participate in the 100th CSPA Spring Journalism Conference at Columbia University, March 13-15.

The team taught six different sessions to more than 1,600 students who attended. Multiple Feather students help teach the workshops, adding their experiences and advice for the audience.

On Wednesday, Feather Advisor Kori James taught three sessions; “Canva to the Rescue” with A&E editor Meilani Gilmore Young, ‘24, and “For Reels” with Video/Photo editor Mallory Frisen, ‘25. The last session, “Media Tool Belt,” gave students a glimpse of what James’ summer class at Columbia would be like. 

On Thursday, Photo editors Julia Castiglione, ‘25, and Mallory Frisen, ‘25, taught “Enhance with the Gram,” explaining the ways social media can help your publication yearbook and magazine. 

Friday’s sessions consisted of one class, “Compelling Feature Writing” taught by Feather advisor Dorina Gilmore Young, on using storytelling elements in feature writing. Danielle Arndt, ‘26, Chloe McDonald, ‘24, and Sanjay Stephen, ‘24, shared their experience with writing feature articles. In the afternoon, Gilmore Young was assisted by McDonald and Arndt when teaching the session, “Nailing the Interview.” They unpacked strategies for interviewing and different ways to make the interview comfortable.  Arndt demonstrated a live interview with someone in the crowd and how to find key details to use in an article.

For the last afternoon at Columbia University, The Feather was honored with a national recognition of a Silver Crown for digital news. This award was a surprising achievement celebrated by all.

For more videos, visit the Media page.

For more Feather articles, read Smash-and-Grab theft raise around California, and Journalism team wins national award

Filmed and Edited by Giada Gilmore Young