Luna's WJMC 2023

Hello! I'm Luna, They/Them, and I'm going to WJMC!!!

[lunaswjmc]

Welcome to my WJMC Blog!!

Hello! My name is Luna Rehn, I am fifteen years old, and I am attending the first week of WJMC in 2023!

 Earlier this year I was invited to attend WJMC, or Washington Journalism and Media Conference.  WJMC is a six-day event specifically for sophomores and juniors. We will get to stay at George Mason, just outside of D.C! During the week, we will attend lectures and speeches from big names in journalism and acquire career and life advice to help us along our journey. I have the honor to hear from reporters, journalists, Pulitzer Prize photojournalists, former media CEO's and even get to interview my state representative.

Time flew by and I'm flying out for the conference on Sunday!  I'm very excited yet nervous as I have never flown by myself.  I plan on reading some recommended books, shown below, and listening to music to pass the travel time.

I am so excited to attend, and to document my journey!

[lunaswjmc]

WJMC DAY SIX - FINAL DAY

WJMC DAY SIX

Today, I woke up so exhausted but excited to go home. I packed up all my things and left my room as I found it. Breakfast was nice, it was just me and Delaney. Carsten and Madison decided to go to Starbucks to celebrate Carsten’s birthday.

Our color group announced each other's awards, and I got an award for best messages in the group chat, making people laugh. Our final speaker taught us many things, mainly that things won’t go how you think they will.

They had a twelve-minute video of all the stuff we did. It was fun, cheering when we saw someone we knew. I spent some time with my friend group, Carsten, Delaney, Madison, and Carlee. We had a lot of laughs.

Then, it was time for me to board the bus to the airport. I won’t lie; I shed a few tears saying goodbye to my friends, but I found someone I met yesterday, Renne, and sat next to them on the bus. The airport was a lot less hectic than I thought it would be.

The trip home was nice. I thought it would be a pain, considering the eight-month-old next to me, but he was calm. He made the trip more entertaining.

Once I landed, I finally saw my family again after five days, the longest and the farthest I'd been away from them. It made me feel independent, but I was ready to go back.

Overall, WJMC was incredible. I learned so much, and the speakers and staff were amazing, but the best part of the trip by far was the people I met. I would have been begging to leave if I hadn't met Carsten and Madison the first night.

So, that was my trip! I hope this sufficed as documenting, and I will be posting photos tomorrow!

[lunaswjmc]

WJMC DAY FIVE

WJMC DAY FIVE

Today is the last full day of the conference, which was very bittersweet. On the one hand, I am exhausted, but on the other, I’ve made so many friends that I’m probably never going to see again because of the distance.

After breakfast, we immediately went to the buses to have our five-hour time period to explore the National Mall area and meet with our congressional representatives.

I and a girl from my school went to meet our representative, Keith Self. He was in session, so we only had a few minutes with him, but he was nice and polite! It was cool meeting someone of that stature.

Then, I had from then to 2:45 to myself, and I explored the area. I spent most of my leftover time at the National Museum of Natural History. It was fascinating, seeing all these life forms. I also picked up a few souvenirs outside (sorry Mom, no spoilers!)

After, we had two and a half hours to get ready for the gala, which was amazing! It was so much fun, and I met a lot of people! There was good music and food.

When I got back to the dorm, I spent the rest of my night packing. It’s so bittersweet to think I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, but I’m so excited to go home!

[lunaswjmc]

WJMC DAY FOUR

WJMC DAY FOUR

Again, woke up on time for breakfast! We had a color group meeting talking about newsroom brevity, then our first speaker, Meghan Reese, a photojournalist for National Geographic.

We had one and a half hours for lunch and a lot more freedom, so I and my friends got Starbucks and looked around the bookstore before heading off to our next speaker, Dr. Alan Byrd, who talked about college applications.

Then, from one to four, we had a color group meeting where we made pitches for a fake newspaper. We were given a story, and we had to present it in front of two of our classmates (one of which was my friend Delaney), who had to choose three out of the ten stories. Our fake story was about a family making a coffee shop where all workers are disabled. We ended up being the first-place story!!

After, we had a quick meeting about tomorrow’s schedule at the National Mall (sadly not a real mall, but still a very cool and historic place!) I finally met up with the person I’m doing my meeting with and after dinner, we had break-off speakers and a mixer event, then a final color group meeting confirming plans for tomorrow before heading to bed.

Tomorrow is going to be the most stressful of my days, as I’ll interview Keith Self, my state representative, with someone else from my school (which was awesome to find out). I have my questions semi-ready, and am ready to go!

[lunaswjmc]

WJMC DAY THREE

WJMC DAY THREE

I woke up (on time!) at 7:30 to meet up with my new friends, Carsten, Madison, Delaney, and Carlee for breakfast. Immediately after, we went to the Arlington George Mason campus to have guest speakers.

Firstly, we had Brian Lamb, former CEO of C-Span. He was funny and extremely interactive. He taught us the importance of learning history, no matter what career you go into. Easily my favorite speaker so far.

Then, we had Tom Jackman, a writer for the Washington Post. He was awesome, teaching us how to be a good reporter, and wrote a story on the spot! We had lunch at a pizza place, which was amazing.

After, we went to the National Press Club, an amazing building made to act as the premier association of journalists. We had two guest speakers, the second being Nisha Chittagong, a managing editor for Vox.com.

However, the first was the one I have been looking forward to since I learned the lineup. Her name is Carmella Boykin, and she runs the Washington Post TikTok account with her two colleagues. She makes entertaining videos about what’s going on in the world, and as someone who loves creating entertaining stories, it was awesome to see someone who managed to merge both of her (and my) passions into a career!

After, we went back to campus where we were able to change into casual clothes (my feet were killing me, so this was an absolute win). We had a meeting with our color group to go over tomorrow's exercise and headed to where we had dinner on the first night to play Color Group Fued, which is exactly what it sounds like; family feud!

I didn’t stick around for the whole thing, as it got chaotic. I ended up meeting a bunch of other people who also didn’t like loud noises!

And that wrapped up my third day, leaving me in the dorms writing this, exhausted, and ready for tomorrow, where we’ll stay on campus all-day.

[lunaswjmc]

WJMC DAY TWO

WJMC DAY TWO

Today I slept through all of my alarms, but thank goodness my suitemate woke me up! I had a great night's sleep and I was ready for the day!

Breakfast was great, but I accidentally grabbed scrambled tofu instead of scrambled eggs. Not a great food.

Then, we went into our meeting room to talk about the first amendment! We had a fun little roleplay about censorship and headed into town for lunch.

After lunch, we went to Planet Word, a language museum in Virginia. It was super interactive and fascinating.

Then, we had dinner at Dudley’s and got to go see the capital building up close. It was incredible to know I was standing outside the most important building in the country!

But we didn’t stay long, as we were escorted by police away from the building. The remainder of our time there today was spent at the memorials. We were able to see the World War II Memorial, which is a stunning sight to see, especially as the sun is setting.

We ended our day at the Lincoln Memorial, and finally, after around fifteen hours, got to go back to the dorm.

Overall, my first full day at WJMC was amazing, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!

[lunaswjmc]

What’s your favorite thing so far

Definitely the guest speakers!!

[lunaswjmc]

Day One!

WJMC DAY ONE

It’s here!! The long-awaited trip is here!

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, as my flight is at 8:30. Then, came the hardest part of this entire trip; saying goodbye to my sister and pets at home, and my parents at the airport. Luckily, I met someone going to WJMC on the flight! Although my flight was delayed due to storms, we got on safely. The flight was bumpy, but the views were pretty!

At 4 pm, we finally arrived at George Mason University. I checked into my room (which I got to myself! Score!) and met my suitemate. I got into some professional wear, met my color group, and headed to dinner.

Then, we had our first guest speaker, Savannah Behrmann, a journalist for Capital Hill and former attendee of WJMC, and I had to honor to ask her about how she remains neutral in a society that tries to get people to lean left or right. She responded that it's something she still works on because nobody is perfectly neutral, but the best way to remain neutral is to cover both sides equally.

Afterward, we had a final color group meeting for the night, where we discussed the importance of elevator pitches.

Then, after a long day, I call my parents and head to bed, excited for the day ahead of me.

[lunaswjmc]

24 hours!

In 24 hours, my plane will be landing in Washington, DC! As the days grow closer to July 9th, I get more and more excited - and nervous. It's my first time traveling alone, but the excitement is definitely overshadowing the nervousness.

Can't wait for my first day!