Seven students traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend the National Scholastic Press Association conference, where they attended over 200 learning sessions, visited the Newseum and toured the city.

“Almost everything we did was independent, so you were forced to learn independently without help from others. The conferences I went to helped me to improve in photography,” junior Megan Barton said. “Everyone who taught the sessions were professional journalists, like the journalist from Humans of New York, who taught me how to take pictures well, and how to improve on even the smallest things.”

Three years in a row the yearbook program has placed in the NSPA Best of Show, in Washington, D.C.,  the yearbook was awarded second for a Yearbook 224 pages or fewer.

“It was really nice that a whole years work had paid off finally,” junior Sarah O’Beirne said. “We were recognized for another year of hard work.”

For its inaugural year, the PWestPathfinder online student newspaper placed eighth in the Best in Show award.

“Honestly I was really surprised, I didn’t think we were going to win anything,” junior Shannon Anderson said. “It was only our third year, and we are run by two juniors. Many of the other schools have professionals in their newspaper too whom make them look good, and we are student driven.”

The recognition is driving the staff to seek new levels of professionalism.

“Our staff is so motivated to get stuff done all the time that it propels us to a point that we did not expect to be at, at this time,” junior Jacob Cupps said, “That’s why I think we were so successful, and it speaks a lot about the talent of our staff.”