Journalism students attended a workshop hosted by journalism coach Melonie Menefee earlier this week. Students learned basic writing techniques that they will need for the UIL competition on March 23 at Buffalo.

“My primary hope was for my students to have an effective review of the contests we will compete in next month,” Menefee said. “By having an intensive workshop day, we were able to focus more than in shorter bursts in class.”

Along with BHS students, other schools including Terrell, Grandview and China Spring attended the workshop.

“This is my first time attending a journalism workshop and it was very informative,” senior Sherlynn Rodriguez said. “I like how Mrs. Menefee includes activities for us to participate in and packets for us to write down notes.”

The workshop started off with news writing, then feature writing, followed by copy writing over lunch, then editorial writing and finishing up with headlines.

“I’m new to journalism, so I am learning more about the different writing styles,” junior Pari Jariwala said. “This workshop really caught me up and I’m looking forward to competing in copy editing and editorial.”

Journalism students are currently focused and working towards competition next month.

“Our goal, of course, is to win district and to take as many students to regionals and state as possible, and every bit of improvement we make increases our chances,” Menefee said. “I’m eager to see how well the students do at district.”