J-Day 2010 boasts record attendance!

When over 1,500 stu­dent jour­nal­ists and advis­ers crammed Lory Stu­dent Union on Oct. 14, you know there was excite­ment in the air. From over 40 learn­ing ses­sions to four simul­ta­ne­ous Sweep­stakes awards cer­e­monies, there was some­thing for everyone.

And “every­one” ended up pro­duc­ing an atten­dance of 1,528, break­ing the 2008 record by nearly 100.

The stand­ing room only open­ing ses­sion fea­tured our new state Admin­is­tra­tor of the Year, Brad Joens, and new Jour­nal­ism Teacher of the Year, Mary Lauck, both from Platte Val­ley High School. Mary retired last spring after spend­ing 40 years at the school. After Jack Kennedy led the open­ing ses­sion crowd in a gospel-choir style a cap­pella ver­sion of The First Amend­ment, JEA National Year­book Adviser of the Year Lori Ogles­bee encour­aged every­one to seek great sto­ries about peo­ple. And then every­one headed out into the first of three learn­ing sessions.

Rocky Moun­tain Stu­dent Media fac­ulty and staff con­ducted a record num­ber of tour-goers, CSU pro­vided 1,500 free book bags, and a dozen exhibitors dis­trib­uted pens, t-shirts, fly­ers, mag­nets and more candy than a healthy per­son should consume.

Speak­ing of t-shirts, over 260 con­fer­ence t-shirts were sold (and you can still pur­chase one for your­self!), with one dol­lar from each shirt’s cost going to the Stu­dent Press Law Center.