On October 26, nine members of our Drumbeats team and our two advisors traveled to Rutgers University’s Busch Campus in Piscataway, NJ. We attended the 2025 Garden State Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference, which is an annual event for New Jersey’s high school journalists. The conference included various different sessions explaining different principles of journalism and graphic design. Participants were able to attend sessions of their choice and freely take notes, ask questions, or just listen. Some sessions included topics such as photography, podcasting, yearbook designing, sports journalism, headline creation, covering politics, and more. We asked Drumbeats attendees to answer the following questions:
What was your favorite part of the trip?
“I thought the wide variety of topics related to all aspects of journalism was really interesting. The conference was structured so you could find what you were looking for specifically.”
- Junior Maddy Portsmore, Contributing Writer ’27
“My favorite part of the trip was being able to meet people from other schools who had similar interests and also the ability to talk to the people running each seminar.”
- Senior Nate Fadini, Editorial Staff ’26
“My favorite part of the trip was being able to sit through at least one session that discussed sports. It was also nice to see that there was another fencer from a different school that had similar interests in journalism like me.’’
- Senior Rocco Pineault, Editorial Staff ‘26
“My favorite part of the field trip was getting to see a preview of what taking college classes may be like. I thought it was a very interesting and nice experience to also show me what Rutgers was like.”
- Junior Isabella Kaminski, Contributing Writer ’27
What was your favorite session you attended about?
“My favorite session I went to was one about photojournalism. The speaker was very entertaining and his pictures were amazing! He taught a lot of valuable lessons about how to take a good picture through composition, capturing emotion, etc.”
- Junior Karley Kurz, Editorial Staff ’27
“The one about Podcasting. It provided me with information that I didn’t know about how to run a podcast successfully, which is what I’ve been wanting to do for some time now.”
- Senior Eric Darcy, Contributing Writer ’26
Would you recommend this trip to others interested in journalism?
“I would recommend this trip to first year Drumbeats members who are interested in journalism.”
- Senior Rocco Pineault, Editorial Staff ’26
“I would recommend this trip to others interested in journalism because of the number of presentations on so many different topics. It ensures that you can find something you’re interested in or wondering about – or you could go in not knowing what you want to learn about and still find something helpful and intriguing.”
- Junior Maddy Portsmore, Contributing Writer ’27
“I 100% would recommend it. The conference has so many different sessions for all different topics that it’s almost certain that one of the meetings will pertain to whatever topic the student is interested in.”
- Senior Eric Darcy, Contributing Writer ’26
“I definitely would recommend this trip to other people interested in pursuing journalism. It’s a very informative convention and really helps writers understand what goes into writing and producing a good literary/photographic piece.”
- Junior Karley Kurz, Editorial Staff ’27
There were many different types of journalism represented at the Garden State Scholastic Press Association Fall Conference, and I recommend any 2026-2027 returnee who is interested in learning more about journalism, join Drumbeats, and enjoy next year’s 2026 conference. It is a great opportunity to find more people who are interested in the same topics as you, and connect with professors who are willing to teach you their ways.