NSPA, Indianapolis, IN: Day 2

Friday, November 11

Our group boarded the bus at 7:15 (except I was a minute late, whoops!). We headed downtown to the NSPA convention at the J.W. Marriott. Downtown Indianapolis is very similar to downtown Kansas City. I think that both cities have the same look and feel which was really cool because I love Kansas City so darn much. Cricket, our bus driver, dropped us at the convention and we checked in. The trade show was going on so we walked around and grabbed as many free items as we could. STA’s yearbook company, Herf Jones, had a video booth (basically, a photo booth but recorded) that printed the video into a flip book which was very fun. Josten’s had a booth that took a photograph of us and printed it on an ID badge that we could wear on a chain. Another company had a coloring space with adult coloring books. Smart advertising! After the trade show, I had my first session that was about making the most of Pinterest. My next session, “10 Must Have Images of Photography,” was one of my most interesting and most informative sessions. It was taught by Mr. Eric Thomas who was STA’s former advisor and a current professor at KU and he had an awesome presentation. Following Mr. Thomas’ presentation, I went on a Photo walk at Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians. It was a nice break from being in the convention center and I had fun walking around the baseball field. Then, lunch! Zoe Willard and I grabbed nachos from a food truck and drinks from Starbucks in the Marriott. I went on my own to an eighty minute session called “What’s the Word(Press)?” but it wasn't what I thought it would be so I left early. Instead, I listened to a presentation about writing good captions with Lauren Lynch and Catelyn Campbell. After, Catelyn, Anna Louise, and I went to Write Offs. Write Offs are competitions that are anything from law to design. Since we are photographers, we pre-entered photography contests. At the Write Off, the judges went through some of the photos and talked about them for two hours. Our group went to Adobo Grill in downtown Indy for dinner where Mr. Thomas also joined us. The next stop was the annual dance back at the convention center. There is a STA tradition to wear our uniform, so before going in, all of us girls changed into them. We were late to the dance and it was hilarious when all of us ran in with our uniforms on. We had a ton of fun because the Dart and Teresian staffs competed against each other to see who could get the most snapchat contacts at the dance. Dart won because Anna Louise gathered 47 total usernames. Wow!!!! Bridget Graham and I took a break during the dance and swapped our Windmoor literary magazine with other schools. When the dance finished, the group went back to the hotel and stayed in for the night. It was a good day.