“Caiti Ellis from Mississippi?” asked Apoorva Nori and Zoe Stack. “Hey y’all sorry I’ll be right back!” I called to them while sprinting to the bathroom upon landing at Washington-Reagan International.
This summer I was honored by being chosen to visit Washington, D.C. and represent Mississippi with 50 other high school juniors representing their states and the District of Columbia at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference held at the Newseum.
This conference selected one student from each state and the District of Columbia to receive an all-expenses paid trip to our Nation’s capital and a $1,000 scholarship to any college of the students’ choice. These students were chosen because they represent qualities of a “free spirit” and excel in journalism.
I can honestly say that this conference was one of the greatest privileges I have ever been granted. I met so many people, whom I’m still in touch with to this day, and can call some of my best friends even from miles apart.
All this being said, I would be nowhere in my journalism career without my yearbook adviser Shari Chumley and broadcast adviser Braden Bishop who have taught me every journalistic skill I was able to utilize to get myself to D.C. Thanks to Ms. Chumley and Mr. Bishop, I was encouraged to apply for this scholarship and attend this conference.
Going on this trip was completely out of my comfort zone. I am used to being in situations where I know at least one person and vice versa. I had never flown before and never been out of the southern states. However, once I arrived at Washington-Reagan National and started meeting people that I had only ever met through a GroupMe message and Facebook page before, I immediately felt comfortable.
While at the conference I listened to people I thought I would never even get the chance to see tell their stories.
Mary Pilon, my new and profound idol and author of The Monopolists, told us her long journey of getting to where she is now. Ron Nessen spoke to the scholars and I of his interesting experience as a reporter during wartimes and as White House Press Secretary under President Gerald Ford.
We listened to Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill of PBS Newshour speak on a Sunday afternoon following watching the filming of a very controversial show of Meet the Press with Chuck Todd about the Confederate flag.
We ran around Capitol Hill on a tour of the Senate as well as USA Today and the Newseum, where most of the conference was held. We sat in on a mock trial with U.S. District Court Senior Judge Royce C. Lamberth and listened intensely to two former Freedom Riders, which really hit home for the Tennessee and Alabama representatives and myself.
We looked at inspiring photographs taken by Doug Mills, New York Times photographer. We listened to the genius thoughts on technology and social media of Val Hoeppner. I observed very personal objects in the Newseum like debris from one of the Twin Towers in 9/11 and Nobel Prize winning photographs from Hurricane Katrina, a hurricane that left a tragic impact on my state.
I met a donor from a town a little over an hour from where I live whose cousin was my cotillion teacher at lunch one day. I made connections with Haleigh Bourque, Sam Cox, and Apoorva Nori that I did not even imagine happening.
Going on this trip helped me to see the world of journalism in a different way. The Memorial of Fallen Journalists really opened my eyes to how much journalists go through to be successful in their career. Seeing some of the United States’ most historical moments memorabilia while touring the Newseum was life changing – especially when I found out that most of the facts we know about our country’s history is from journalists’ information and research.
This trip introduced me to my most favorite people all while being in my most favorite city in America. I will take the experiences and knowledge I have from this and use it in my everyday life. I will dream, dare, do, just as Al Neuharth tells us to do.