Before sun rose on the crisp early morning of Nov. 13, 2025, Crimson NewsMagazine journalists and El Roble Yearbook Crew departed for Nashville, Tennessee for the National High School Journalism Convention, hosted by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA).
Crimson NewsMagazine is a student-run news publication of the Paso Robles High School journalism program led by Advisor Aiden Evans and Editors-in Chiefs Kaile’a Stoltzfus, Amelia Peterson, and Chloe Van Pelt. The program allows students to produce stories from news-relevant topics to fun seasonal coverage related to students and local Paso Robles. El Roble Yearbook is a program of students that produce the school’s yearbook, and spend their time interviewing students, designing pages, and taking photos to document the year, led by Advisor Michael Witman and Editor-in-Chief Jade Wagner.
At JEA/NSPA National Conventions, students spend their mornings and afternoons in informative sessions and productive workshops. They attend multiple events where they learn from professionals in the journalism and media arts fields, valuable information that they can apply to their programs back home. Afterwards, they present with their class their newfound skills where everyone can implement it into the newsmagazine and yearbook productions.
In addition, they get the experience of making new connections and touring attractions during their time off. Competing at conventions gives Crimson and Yearbook students the opportunity to reach out and display their hard work. Over the past decade, both programs have won numerous national awards along with students who’ve won individual awards.
This district-funded trip provides Crimson and Yearbook the privilege of representing PRHS nationally. The highest competitive awards rank in Pacemakers and Best of Show. Although there were no awards won for this 2025 school year in either category, students gained valuable skills that they get to utilize for upcoming projects.
