media by Courtesy of Kristi Rathbun

Members of the Rock Online and Black & Gold pose with Jack Kennedy and their awards at the end of J-Day Sept. 14. Kennedy was Colorado Student Media Association’s (CSMA) former Executive Director, and previously taught at Rock Canyon. “I’m so proud of our staff and the awards we won because we truly give it our all. This time, it was especially special, because this was the newspaper’s first online All-Colorado. We’ve won All-Colorado’s for print and hybrid before, but this year was our first one for online! My favorite part was probably when Jack Kennedy sang the First Amendment at the closing ceremony, he’s an inspiration and a great singer,” Editor-in-Chief Claire Bauer ’24 said.

At Colorado State University (CSU) at 8:45 a.m., Sept. 14, 1200 students attended Journalism Day, otherwise known as J-Day. 15 of those were Jaguars.

The day began with an opening ceremony, which immediately was followed by four class sessions taught by professionals, media advisers and student editors.

The classes consisted of topics ranging from press rights to improving your writing and photography, etc.

After this, students came back together for a closing ceremony. There, the Rock Online Newspaper and the Black & Gold Yearbook both were granted All-Colorado Awards for their work in the 2022-2023 school year. In addition to this, Newspaper placed second place in the Best of Show 5A Online News and Yearbook placed third in Best of Show 5A Yearbooks.

“This was my third year going to J-Day, and it is an amazing experience every time,” Editor-in-Chief Claire Bauer ‘24 said. “I love meeting all the different students from around the state and learning so many new things. I went to sessions about the rights of student journalists, improving your stories, and covering social injustices, all of which were interesting and helpful.”