Eight students from Palatine High School went to the High School Journalism Day at Northwestern.

“As a journalism foundation, I think it’s important to teach new skills and ideas to students,” Sara Brazeal, the director of marketing and communications for Nothwestern’s journalism school Medill, said. Northwestern has been hosting high school journalism day for around ten years. 15 high schools came with almost 150 students total.

Brazeal also said that Journalism Day is also a good experience to learn from peers as well as experts and professors. The workshops allowed for both lecturing from actual professors at Medill and conversation between students from all over Illinois.

“It’s really a great opportunity and I’m glad I took it.” Sarah Kamal, a senior at Northside High School, said. Unlike the students from Palatine, she came with her journalism class. In the future, Kamal wants to pursue a career in law enforcement and found the Medill Justice Project workshop particularly interesting.

Gina Alicari, a senior at St. Viator High School, came with her school newspaper and said it was a great experience. Although for Alicari writing is just a hobby, she still enjoyed the workshop she took on interviewing techniques. Alicari said the workshops she took made her “think of writing in a way she never had before.”

“Overall I think that it was a very unique experience and I really loved the different people that came to speak and how diverse each of their topics and personalities were,” Alekhya Thotakura, a freshman at Palatine High School and a member of Cutlass, said.