Quest.

The week before spring break, the Quest traveled to San Francisco to attend the Associated College Press conference (ACP). In attendance were more than 750 other collegiate journalists and journalism professors. The Quest then competed against other universities at a national level. 

On March 9, Declan Bradley, L Urena, and Henry Kendrick began their journey on a plane to San Francisco. At the airport, they saw–and proceeded to Spider-Man wave at–fellow Reed student and class president Safi Zenger. After landing, the Quest went to the conference to check in, speak with other conference members, and explore the exhibition hall. After a quick Enchilada break, the Quest returned to listen to the keynote address by Rick Green, executive editor and chief content officer of the Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, California, as he spoke on advice for collegiate journalists. That afternoon Declan Bradley gave his first presentation on app development in Swift. 

On the Quest’s second day, keynote speaker Odette Alcazaren-Keeley, director of the Maynard 200 Journalism Fellowship Program, spoke on her work and how the Journalism Fellowship program provides opportunities to journalists of color. The next day, a panel of student journalists from The State News, the student publication of Michigan State University, spoke powerfully on their experiences as survivors of the mass shooting at that college in February, and offered advice to other collegiate journalists facing the responsibility of covering tragedies in their communities.

The conference ended on Saturday night with an awards ceremony for the more than 100 independent college papers in attendance. The board of the ACP presented awards to the winning newspapers, and the Quest was honored to place in the top 10 of the Best of Show competition for an outstanding news website — honoring the Quest’s online publication at reedquest.org.