Every year, the Iowa High School Publications Association, also known as IHSPA, put on a fall conference where high school journalism groups can attend sessions, meet other journalists attending different high schools, and be inspired to tell the stories of their respective high schools in ways they had never previously considered.

Speakers at IHSPA range from college professors to high school journalists to professionals in the field. Each speaker has a set topic to ensure there are a variety of workshop sessions during the conference with a wide spectrum as well from photography and videos to social media to financing. 

Keynote speaker Seung Min Kim touched on the unpredictability of journalism-you never know when news will break-before giving a simple piece of advice for every up-and-coming journalist; high school or otherwise. “The one thing you can always control is how hard you work.”

IHSPA is also the event where yearbook awards are given to schools from the previous year. The Duchess won 14 individual awards this year, including sophomore Abbi Vanderhoff winning first place for a feature photo and sophomore Kailia Rosadakhom winning second place for a sports story.

Overall, IHSPA is an event for meeting other high school students doing similar work to our own and finding inspiration from our peers as well as professionals to apply to our own newspaper and yearbook every year.