EUGENE – Current and former members of the Days Creek journalism/yearbook class  attended a field trip to the Fall Media Day at the University of Oregon on Wednesday.

928 students from around the state attended the annual event, taking four courses put on by journalists, professors and even high school students. 

Courses included media bias, writing, television news, photography, podcasting, interviewing, design and investigative reporting among many options. 

“I learned a lot about journalism and life, interviewing people,” sophomore Shayleigh Lynn said. “It was a lot more than you could get in a high school class.”

The event was hosted by the Oregon Journalism Education Association and the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. 

Schools traded publications and entered yearbooks into competitions. 

Days Creek’s 2021-22 yearbook “100th Graduating Class” placed second in the 3A/2A/1A division, won by Salem Academy.

“I learned know how to approach a person who recently went through something traumatic,” sophomore Rossli Berlingeri said of the interviewing class he attended. “They told us about the proper way to handle a situation like that.”

Senior Cordell Guckert enjoyed the photography classes he took.

“Photography actually taught me quite a lot,” Guckert said. “Pictures you take, you have to care about them. It matters. You can’t turn the camera whole lot. I has to be symmetrical. And never forget your SD card.”

A keynote address was delivered by filmmaker and UO graduate Tevin Tavares. He told the audience about his sometimes rocky path to his career as an award-winning filmmaker. 

The event inspired the class to start an Instagram account for its publication, Tiller-Trail Times. Many high school media organizations are using the photograph platform. 

Most students enjoyed being on the campus of the University of Oregon.

“It was really nice there,” Lynn said. “It makes me a lot less nervous about going to college.”